CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Updated March 7, 2012 – 10:49 p.m.
Speaker Urges Unity on Highway Bill
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
House Republicans remain deadlocked over how to renew vital highway, rail and infrastructure programs, with the leadership unable to bridge intraparty divisions over the duration, price tag and scope of a House measure.
The internal standoff over a revised $260 billion, five-year surface-transportation reauthorization (
Senate leaders, meanwhile, reached a deal late Wednesday to proceed with their bill, agreeing to vote on 30 amendments to the measure. Senators will begin work on the amendments Thursday, with passage expected March 13.
During a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday, Speaker
“You don’t like that? I don’t like it either. Why would any of us like it?” the Ohio Republican said, according to an aide in the room, of the prospect of passing the Senate version. “But right now, it’s the plan. If we don’t like it, we have the chance to do something about it. We have a bill, passed through regular order in committee, that is far better than the Senate bill. But right now that bill lacks the votes to pass. And every other option we’ve tried has even less support.”
The House has been stymied over its version since before the Presidents Day recess, when Boehner set the bill aside amid broad opposition from different wings of his caucus. A later attempt by the leadership to sell members on an 18-month alternative drew an equally lackluster response.
Rank-and-file Republicans leaving Wednesday’s closed-door meeting had mixed reactions to the two options Boehner laid out. Party leaders, eager for the House to pass its own version, declined to make their regular public comments, underscoring the depth of party divisions and concerns over the approaching March 31 expiration of the most recent authorization of the transportation programs (PL 112-30).
Boehner is slated to hold his weekly, televised news conference Thursday, where he is likely to face questions about the lack of an agreement on a transportation measure.
Much of the opposition is coming from conservatives who oppose renewing transportation programs without an alternative way to pay for them or to cut costs in the face of steadily declining revenue from gasoline and diesel taxes that feed the Highway Trust Fund.
“They are still trying to pick up support for the committee bill,” said conservative Rep.
Republican leaders are working with Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman
Shuster said House leaders would likely move to pass a short-term extension of up to 45 days if the House is able to pass its own version to allow negotiators time to reach an agreement on a final bill.
Few Details on Alternative
Speaker Urges Unity on Highway Bill
It remained unclear what changes the leaders are seeking, and Shuster said the decision on whether to bring a revised bill to the floor “will be determined by the whip count.”
House Republicans seem to agree on one point: their opposition to the emerging Senate measure. “Local transportation officials can’t make planning decisions for two years,” said Rep.
Republican leaders want the House to pass its own version to give them greater leverage to work to preserve their approach in any negotiations with the Senate.
Still, leaders have been unable to rally the 218 votes they need to pass their version of the bill, mindful that Democrats are unlikely to lend their support.
Boehner and his team will make a “collective” decision after lawmakers return from recess the week of March 19 about whether they have sufficient support to press forward with the House version, lawmakers and senior aides said.
Rep.
Mica — whose committee-passed version sparked the backlash from conservatives and led leaders to call for revisions to attract votes — expressed optimism that the House will eventually approve a longer-term bill. “I feel very good,” he said. “These are the same issues. I think that they can be resolved.”
Many Republicans say they remain divided on a host of issues, ranging from the House bill’s cost to mandates to the states.
One issue that attracted deep opposition, particularly from Republicans in districts bordering cities, centered on a proposal included in the committee-passed version to eliminate the Mass Transit Account — which sets aside 20 percent of Highway Trust Fund receipts for public transportation.
Leaders are gauging whether preserving the transit account would provide enough Republican votes to pass a revised House version, which they hope to bring to the floor after the recess.
It is an open question whether that change will be sufficient to gather support from more than a handful of moderate Republicans, such as
LaTourette also may reach out to West Virginia Rep.
“The leadership will figure it out,” said freshman Rep.
Speaker Urges Unity on Highway Bill
Nathan Hurst, Niels Lesniewski and Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.
First posted March 7, 2012 1:04 p.m.