... INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

Fiscal Year 2007 Highway Investment Increase in Jeopardy

On Wednesday, the full U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and bipartisan leaders of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Banking Committee sent a jointly-signed letter warning about the failure to fully fund the SAFETEA-LU highway and transit programs in the final FY 2007 joint/continuing resolution. Click here to view the letter.

The letter was precipitated by statements made by the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairs, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) and Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.), that funding for highways and transit programs would be held to the fiscal 2006 levels contained in the short-term continuing resolution (CR) passed by the 109th Congress.

As the letter describes, such action would cut highway and transit investment by $4 billion, costing the nation's economy an estimated 192,000 family-wage construction jobs.

Loss of the SAFETEA-LU guaranteed funding levels would also potentially threaten the "firewalls" established in 1998 that provide states with the certainty of funding for critical infrastructure programs.

House and Senate leadership are still negotiating 2007 transportation funding levels and hope to achieve an accommodation before the current CR expires on February 15.

For more information, contact: Robert Sullivan, David Hubbard, or Jim Kolb.

Transportation Committee Announces
New Subcommittee Leadership

At its organizational meeting this week, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced the chairs, ranking Republican members, and rosters of its six subcommittees for the 110th Congress.

The Committee also approved a slate of new procedural rules as well as new restrictions on travel and earmarks. Of particular interest to NACA members, the Highways and Transit Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and the ranking member is Rep. John "Jimmy" Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.).

Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) chairs the Aviation Subcommittee and Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) will serve as ranking member.

The Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials is chaired by Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.). Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) is the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee.

Also of interest, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) chairs the Water Resources Subcommittee and Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.) is the ranking member.

The Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and the ranking member is Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.).

Full Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and the new ranking member John Mica (R-Fla.) serve as ex officio on all the subcommittees.

For more information, contact: David Hubbard or John Sullivan.

This Week in Climate Change Policy

As promised, the 110th Congress is off to an active start on climate change legislation. Here is the scorecard so far:

On January 10, Senate Energy Committee Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) introduced legislation designed to encourage energy-efficient growth by requiring reductions in the ratio of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to gross domestic product.

Two days later, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)-joined by Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)-introduced two percent reductions per year in total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) starting in 2012.

On January 16, new Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), introduced a bill calling for GHG reductions to 1990 levels by 2020 on the way to a level 80 percent below 1990 by 2050.

The same day, Senators Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced a resolution urging the Bush Administration to reengage in negotiations on climate change. The next day, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduced a bill to cap power plant GHG emissions at 2001 levels by 2015 and reduce them one percent per year thereafter.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), concerned that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) would not support climate legislation, announced her intention to establish a special Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to bypass his Committee. Although the Select Committee will not have legislative jurisdiction, it can raise the profile of the issue in the House.

In a related matter, a federal court in California stayed a lawsuit against the auto industry brought by several environmental groups. The move puts the suit on hold pending resolution of the first climate change case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more information, contact: Tom Carter or Andy O'Hare.

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