Senate Democratic leaders appeared this morning to tout their
commitment to passing a job-creation bill by the end of next week --
but the substance of their jobs measure, including the fate of pivotal
transportation provisions, remains up in the air.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (Photo: LV City Life)Harry
Reid (D-NV), the upper chamber's majority leader, told reporters that
he was "hopeful" a bipartisan jobs bill could be ready for public view
within the next day or two, followed by a first vote on Monday. "If
not," he added, "[Democrats] will lay one down ourselves."
The Obama administration has called for
the Senate to add more funding for TIGER (Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery), the stimulus law's $1.5 billion
merit-based grant program, to its jobs plan. Reid indicated on Tuesday
that his party was receptive to more TIGER aid.
Another infrastructure-centric provision attracting broad interest is an extension of Build America Bonds
(BABs), which allow local governments to finance transportation
projects more easily by offering a 35 percent federal subsidy. New York
City's transit authority is one of many local agencies turning to BABs to make debt offerings more attractive to private investors.
Finally, the politically tricky status of the highway trust fund remains on Congress' plate, with the House and Senate still at odds over how to keep it funded nearly five months after the first expiration of the nation's 2005 federal transportation law.
Reid
said earlier this week that a one-year extension of the trust fund
likely would be added to the Senate's jobs bill. But with Senate
Democrats aiming to coax Republicans on board by breaking up their
economic-recovery agenda into smaller pieces, it remains to be seen
whether the trust fund, BABs, or TIGER will make it into the
legislation set for votes on Monday.
Also left unanswered is
how much, if any, spending the Senate would direct at ready-to-go
transportation projects. An initial jobs-bill outline circulated last
week suggested that $14 billion for roads and $7.5 billion for transit
could make it into the legislation, but Democrats offered no hint of
whether those numbers were still in the mix.
The office of
Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has
taken the lead on the infrastructure elements of her party's jobs
program, did not immediately return a request for clarification of the
timing for transportation spending.
If Senate Democrats were
sure of anything this morning, however, it was the need for speedy
consideration of the yet-to-emerge jobs provisions. "Let's put these on
the floor and move on them with a sense of urgency," Majority Whip Dick
Durbin (D-IL) said.
