House and Senate Set to Conference on Transportation Bill

Both the House of Representatives and Senate this week appointed Congressional members to negotiate a final version of the long-gestating surface transportation bill. Negotiations were allowed to move to conference after the House passed legislation on April 18. The Senate passed their version on March 13.

Unable to pass a comprehensive five-year bill that had been debated for months, the House instead approved a three-month extension of the current transportation bill with a handful of amendments by a vote of 293-127. The House is using this extension as a basis to enter deliberations with the Senate, with the amendments serving as a central piece of the House negotiating position.

These amendments include the RESTORE Act (directs financial penalties from the 2010 Gulf oil spill to directly impacted coastal areas) and the RAMP Act (requires full annual payout of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund) which enjoy bipartisan support in both chambers and will be a part of any final bill. The House’s other amendments – approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, roll-back of coal ash regulations and rapid acceleration of environmental reviews after natural disasters – are much more controversial. In particular, the Keystone pipeline will be a major sticking point in negotiations, and the Obama administration is threatening to veto the bill if Keystone is included. Republicans are insisting that these amendments are bipartisan because 69 House Democrats voted for the bill, though many of these same Democrats claim that they were only interested in advancing to negotiations with the Senate and remain opposed to Keystone.

The Senate bill was approved 74-22 , with 22 Republicans in support. In contrast to the current House bill, the two-year Senate transportation bill is a fully realized new piece of legislation, complete with restructuring of and improvements to various federal programs. Because of this, most expect that a final bill will closely resemble the Senate version. What is less certain is whether there will be a final bill at all. It is unclear how much the two sides will be able to compromise, and it is possible that negotiations will break down. If this occurs, the two chambers will likely elect to extend current transportation legislation into next year. The current and ninth extension expires on June 30.

The appointed conferees to negotiate the surface transportation bill are:

Senate Democrats : Max Baucus (MT), Barbara Boxer (CA), Dick Durbin (IL), Tim Johnson (SD), Bob Menendez (NJ), Bill Nelson (FL), Jay Rockefeller (WV), and Chuck Schumer (NY).

Senate Republicans : Orrin Hatch (UT), John Hoeven (ND), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), James Inhofe (OK), Richard Shelby (AL), and David Vitter (LA).

House Democrats : Tim Bishop (NY), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Leonard Boswell (IA), Corrine Brown (FL), Jerry Costello (IL), Elijah Cummings (MD), Peter DeFazio (OR), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Ed Markey (MA), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Nick Rahall (WV), and Henry Waxman (CA).

House Republicans : Rob Bishop (UT), Larry Buschon (IN), Dave Camp (MI), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Chip Cravaack (MN), Rick Crawford (AR), John Duncan (TN), Ralph Hall (TX), Richard Hanna (NY), Doc Hastings (WA), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), James Lankford (OK), John Mica (FL), Reid Ribble (WI), Bill Shuster (PA), Steve Southerland (FL), Patrick Tiberi (OH), Fred Upton (MI), Ed Whitfield (KY), and Don Young (AK).