With the October 30^th deadline having arrived on the first thirty day extension of SAFETEA-LU authorization and no action on separate extension legislation, the House and the Senate included language in the Continuing Resolution needed to fund most of the Federal government to continue highway and transit program spending authorization until December 18, 2009. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee bipartisan leadership had hoped to enact a six month extension of the program and to address in that bill the $8.7 billion rescission of contract authority that went into effect on September 30. However, objections from two republican Senators prevented the bill from coming to the Senate floor. Both Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) and the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) contacted Senators supporting enactment of the six month extension but also urging that the Senate use this time to continue working on a six year bill with increased transportation investment. The House has already passed a three month extension also with the intent of continuing to work on the long term bill.

In an effort to keep the pressure on Congress to complete action on the reauthorization bill soon the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) have initiated the “Start Us Up USA” campaign. This week AEM and AED organized an event on the Washington mall which included a caravan of construction equipment to bring attention to the dire employment conditions in the construction industry and specifically the equipment manufacturer segment. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I) Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) addressed the crowd calling for a multi-year reauthorization bill that puts Americans back to work.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this week conducted three days of legislative hearings with over 50 witnesses providing testimony on S. 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, introduced by EPW Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). The bill proposes to create a "cap and trade" regulatory program to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to address global climate change concerns.  The legislation aims to reduce U.S. GHG emissions by 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its comprehensive energy and climate change legislation, H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, in June. Proponents of climate change legislation in the Senate are coordinating at least five committees with jurisdiction over the issue and have signaled their intent to bring a comprehensive bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible following the debate on health care legislation. 

AGC has been working with stakeholders in the real estate, design, and construction industry to communicate the industry's concerns with energy and cap and trade legislation.  AGC is largely concerned that cap and trade would increase the cost of construction and that its impact on the economy would reduce demand for construction services.  AGC is also concerned with the transportation planning provisions in s. 1733 that would make planning for and building highway capacity projects more difficult. AGC has prepared a document Top Ten Things Contractors Need to Know about Climate Change  that summarizes AGC's concerns with energy and climate change legislation.  AGC encourages members to express their concerns with the Senate climate change bill by contacting their senators using AGC's Legislative Action Center .

After more than nine years of rulemaking and lawsuits, the Obama Administration has agreed to settle the long-standing legal dispute with safety groups and the Teamsters union over the truck driver hours of service (HOS) rules. Under the terms of the agreement, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will have nine months from the settlement date (October 26, 2009) to forward a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to OMB and 21 months to publish a final rule. The current rules will remain in place while the rulemaking is pending. The settlement reserves the right of the petitioners to go back to court if they don't like the resulting proposal.

In 2003 the HOS rules were revised to permit 11 hours of driving time within a 14-hour period from the time a driver begins work, after the driver has been off-duty for a period of at least 10 consecutive hours. Under the 2003 rules, (which were re-issued in a 2005 rulemaking following the first legal challenge) a driver is limited to 60 hours on duty in a seven consecutive day period. AGC was successful in getting a provision in law, that was included in the 2003/2005 rules, permitting a construction driver to "restart" the weekly "clock" at any time after he or she has been off-duty at least 24 hours consecutively. The hours of service rule has been challenged in court numerous times by safety advocacy groups and the Teamsters Union. In July 2007, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that FMCSA did not follow proper procedural in drafting the rule but did not rule on the substantive merits of the rule itself.

In late 2008, FMCSA issued a final rule retaining the provisions of the 2003/2005 rule, which was again challenged leading to this latest action.

With time running out on the thirty day extension on authorization for the highway and transit programs it remains unclear if the House and Senate can agree on how to proceed. The Senate has been attempting to move an eighteen month extension but that effort has been blocked by Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) who believes that a six year bill with increased funding levels is the best approach for transportation and for the economy. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Ranking Republican Jim Inhofe (OK) have now reached an agreement with Sen. Voinovich to move a six month extension to avoid disruption in funding while allowing time to continue to work on a long term authorization. The Senate is expected to take up the measure early next week.

However, it is uncertain whether the House will agree to the six month extension. The House, following the lead on House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), passed a three month extension with the intent of continuing to press for enactment of a six year measure. Chairman James Oberstar today said he is still pushing for the three-month extension and hopes to try to win approval of a six-year bill by the end of the year.

The Senate six month compromise will restore the $8.7 billion rescission that went into effect on September 30.

There have been some discussions between House and Senate leadership and the Administration about increasing highway and transit funding in an extension bill as a way to stimulate job growth. With unemployment continuing to increase, the Administration is looking for ways to create jobs without taking up additional stimulus legislation. Since state DOTs have been largely successful in putting highway projects out to bid, increasing this funding is being considered. However, additional funding is not expected to be included in the Senate bill.

Congress completed action on a thirty-day Continuing Resolution to keep government programs operating in the new fiscal year while it continues to debate the necessary appropriations bills for the various federal agencies. Included in the legislation is a thirty-day spending authorization for the highway and transit programs. This action was necessary because SAFETEA-LU, the current transportation authorization, expired on September 30. In a last minute change of heart, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ranking Republican Jim Inhofe (Okla.) attempted to get the Senate to pass a three-month extension of authorization that included a provision to eliminate an $8.7 billion rescission of highway spending authority. Until now, the Senate transportation leaders have supported the Obama administration's request that authorization be extended for eighteen months until March 2011. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) continues to press for Congress to complete action now on a six-year authorization bill and therefore has sought to limit the length of an extension, which lead to the House passing a three-month extension last week. The House bill, however, does not address the rescission problem because House rules require that eliminating the rescission must be offset with other spending cuts or revenue increases. Sens. Boxer and Inhofe attempted to identify acceptable offsets but we not successful. The thirty day reprieve hopefully gives transportation leaders time to work on a strategy for moving forward with a long-term authorization. While the rescission was implemented as of midnight last night, Sen. Boxer indicated that she will continue to attempt to find a way to ensure that states are not required to cut their highway programs.