U.S. Senate

The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.

A provision in the Senate jobs bill that would distribute $932 million in 2010 transportation funding based on existing earmarks is in line for a quick fix, thanks to a deal struck on Friday between House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Democratic leaders in the upper chamber.

Federal infrastructure funding and many U.S. DOT workers remain in limbo today as Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) continues his one-man filibuster of legislation extending the 2005 transport law, turning himself into a Democratic target and a poster child for Washington gridlock.

When a member of Congress earmarks transportation money for a local project, the funding isn't always spent in a timely manner. The Bush administration's final budget proposed to cancel road earmarks that had sat largely unspent for 10 years, a move that would have freed up $626 million, according to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI).

With the White House's agenda crowded by high-profile debates that remain unresolved after lengthy talks with Congress -- think health care, financial regulation, even unemployment benefits -- only a handful of lawmakers are publicly engaging with the dominant issues surrounding the next long-term federal transportation bill.

The Senate passed its jobs bill today by a 70-28 vote, bringing Congress one step closer to a $20 billion transfer that would keep the nation's highway trust fund solvent until 2011 and extend the 2005 federal transportation law.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to call up a job creation bill on Monday that includes a stopgap rescue of the highway trust fund but none of the new infrastructure spending okayed by the House. Even that pared-down measure faces a GOP filibuster threat, but many Democrats remain undaunted in their push for more federal aid.

Representatives from Washington's road and transit lobbies joined Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today to call for swift passage of job-creation legislation that is slated for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress on Monday.

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.