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Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Aides from the two chambers said they were still working out a few minor details, but they expected to file a report on the bill Wednesday, with votes by the House and Senate coming this week.

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The surface transportation bill provides some $286.5 billion over the 2004-2009 period, replacing the $218 billion six-year program that expired in September 2003.

Passing a new highway bill has been a top priority of both this session of Congress and the last, but lawmakers have been unable to resolve disputes with the White House over spending levels and fighting among the states over how federal highway money should be distributed.

Congress has had to pass 10 temporary extensions of the old law, keeping existing highway programs running but preventing the initiation of new projects expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and address the nation's serious infrastructure problems.

Stephen Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America, welcomed the deal, saying that, considering the budgetary restraints and the war in Iraq, "I think we've squeezed every penny we could" from the negotiations. He said a lot of states have been contracting for little besides maintenance work because of the uncertainty over when Congress would pass a new bill.

The agreement finalized Wednesday would create a formula where, toward the end of the program, each state would be guaranteed at least 92 cents in federal grants for every dollar contributed to the Highway Trust Fund through gasoline taxes. Under current law, states are assured a 90.5 percent return on contributions.

The final bill will also include specific projects requested by lawmakers for their districts or states, projects that are often criticized by watchdog groups as political "pork." The two sides agreed that the Senate will choose 40 percent of the total.

These range from multi-million-dollar highways and bridges to bike paths, pedestrian trails and museum parking lots.

Slightly more than 18 percent of the funds would go to public transit, for bus and train projects and special programs for the disabled or to promote public transportation in national parks.

About $6 billion is directed to safety programs.

In the last session of Congress, the House Transportation Committee sought as much as $375 billion for the bill, citing the importance of fixing deteriorating highways and bridges that are blamed for thousands of fatal traffic accidents every year.

But with the federal budget deficit reaching record levels, the White House insisted on a far lower level, and threatened that the president would veto any bill that added to the deficit or increased taxes.

© 2005 The Associated Press

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