Obama presses Congress to renew transportation bills

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he doesn't want a repeat of Capitol Hill gridlock that halted construction this summer at dozens of airports across the nation, including McCarran International Airport.

And he also warned against any similar delay in renewal of a highway funding bill, legislation that brings more than
$300 million a year in gasoline tax money to Nevada for highway and other transportation projects. A holdup in funding could hurt road construction in the Silver State, where dozens of projects are under way including a U.S. Highway 95 widening project in Las Vegas, a state official said.

Squaring off with lawmakers who will return to work next week, Obama demanded that Congress pass the two key transportation bills "as soon as they come back" and without the fighting that threw thousands of bureaucrats, inspectors and project workers off their jobs for two weeks in July and August.

Congress finally renewed the legal authority of the Federal Aviation Administration but not before the impasse partially closed the agency. The solution that put projects back on track, including the building of a
$43 million air tower at McCarran, was only for the short term. The FAA comes up for another renewal on Sept. 16.

Obama also called for renewal of a bill that distributes billions of dollars to states for road building and repairs and mass transit. If delayed past its expiration date at the end of September, the cutoff of highway funding would threaten all the states, he said.

More than 4,000 federal workers "will be immediately furloughed," Obama said. A 10-day delay will cost $1 billion in lost gasoline taxes, he said. Longer delays would put up to 1 million workers at risk over the next year.

"If we don't extend this bill by the end of September, all of them will be out of a job, just because of politics in Washington," Obama said of highway workers. "That's just not acceptable. It's inexcusable.

"At a time when a lot of people in Washington are talking about creating jobs it is time to stop the political gamesmanship that can cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs," he said in a Rose Garden ceremony before about 125 people representing labor, business and transportation groups.

Obama used his bully pulpit to talk up jobs as a warmup to a speech he plans to deliver next week to a joint session of Congress. He plans to lay out initiatives to create jobs and spark the slumbering economy.

Mitt Romney, one of the leading Republican challengers for the presidency, plans to unveil his job-creation strategy at a Tuesday event in Southern Nevada.

Republicans on Wednesday accused Obama of using "irresponsible" scare tactics on transportation.

"Aside from the president today, no one has suggested the highway bill will be allowed to expire," said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, according to The Associated Press. "Republicans support an extension of the highway bill and appreciate the need for a long-term solution for infrastructure projects."

Still, state officials are sounding a warning, including Nevada Transportation Director Susan Martinovich, president of the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

"Congress must take action by Sept. 30, or the federal highway and transit programs that support thousands of jobs in every state will shut down," Martinovich said at an association meeting last week in Louisville, Ky.

Federal funds to the states come largely from the 18.4-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and 24.4-cent tax on diesel fuel, which the government would be unable to collect if they are not renewed.

In Nevada, the effect would be tempered by the state law that allows the state's gasoline tax to increase when the federal tax disappears, said Scott Rawlins, deputy director and chief engineer of the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Still that would not fully offset the streams of funding Nevada gets from various federal transportation accounts, Rawlins said.

Nevada received $360 million in federal funds for transportation in fiscal 2010 and is set to receive at least
$312 million this year. Money from Uncle Sam amounts to between 70 percent and 80 percent of the state's capital budget for roads.

States pay road contractors and are reimbursed by the federal government. If the reimbursements are cut off or delayed, "we would have to make a decision do we have enough money to pay those bills until the federal government can get their bill passed," Rawlins said.

"We probably have $400 million worth of contracts out there and probably
80 percent of those are federally funded in one portion or another," Rawlins said. "We have projects across the state that are ongoing that we would have to evaluate."

In Las Vegas, those could include widening along U.S. 95 and the planned linkup of HOV lanes at U.S. 95 and Summerlin Parkway, he said.

Rawlins said the fear is real that Congress might not extend the highway bill in time.

"You don't know how the politics are going to play out," he said. "We have seen it once with a federal program, with the FAA. Who's to say they don't try the same thing with the Federal Highway Administration?"

On the FAA bill, Democratic leaders in the Senate and Republicans in the House clashed over a cutoff of federal subsidies for 13 small rural airports and over labor organizing provisions that were indirectly tied to the aviation bill.

There has been no evidence of similar hard feelings on extending the highway bill or at least not yet. It is not clear how much lawmakers will be willing to spend on a short-term bill.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, reportedly plans to start work next week on a four-month extension, which would be its eighth short-term renewal the past two years.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, said he would agree to just one more highway bill extension. He said in a statement that Democrats "left major transportation legislation in the ditch for more than a year."

At the same time, lawmakers are divided over a longer-term reauthorization. As is the case in most matters, the issue is money.

A bill being prepared in the Senate would authorize $109 billion over two years, enough to fund projects at current levels plus inflation. That is $12 billion more than the money available in the Highway Trust Fund, and senators are looking to make up the difference.

The trust fund, fed primarily through the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, is drying out. The high price of gasoline has caused many Americans to drive less and to buy more fuel-efficient cars.

A bill being considered in the House would authorize $230 billion over six years, which is $56 billion less than what Congress passed in a 2005 transportation bill.

House Republican leaders have told industry groups they plan to spend only what the highway fund can support, although some GOP members say the bill also will give states more flexibility in how they spend federal road funds.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or
202-783-1760.