House Floats Highway Bill as October 31 Deadline Nears
The House Transportation Committee, led by Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., floated its version of a long-term highway bill (here) on Oct. 16, nearly three months after the Senate released its measure and less than two weeks before a range of highway programs expire. The six-year legislation, dubbed the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015, now moves toward an Oct. 22 markup with strong bipartisan support. Ranking member Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., signed on as initial co-sponsors.
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The legislation lacks several trade-related initiatives embedded in the Senate legislation, HR-22 (here), which passed that chamber in late July (see 1507300052). House lawmakers didn’t follow the Senate’s lead in adding in the Port Performance Act, a bill that mandates evaluation on a set of port metrics, nor did they include an Export-Import Bank reauthorization. The Senate ultimately approved Ex-Im reauthorization through the amendment process on its highway bill. The deadline for amendments on the House bill is mid-day on Oct 21, a committee spokesman said.
A group of House Democrats recently lashed into the Senate’s use of customs user fees for infrastructure projects, rather than trade facilitation or border functions (see 1510150029). The House bill so far lacks funding offsets. The Ways and Means Committee is responsible for that portion of the bill. A Ways and Means spokesman declined to comment.
A staffer with Shuster said the House six-year bill is likely to hit the House floor “shortly” after the markup. The staffer, however, cautioned that another stopgap measure is still probable in order to extend highway authorization past October 31. “It’s not an either/or situation,” said the staffer. “We need a short-term extension and we have this multi-year bill. We will mark up the multi-year bill.”