CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
March 8, 2012 – 4:23 p.m.
Boehner Says House Will Consider Senate Transportation Bill
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
House Speaker
He acknowledged that internal Republican divisions over a $260 billion, five-year House version (
“My job is to find out where the center of gravity is,” Boehner said Thursday.
The Speaker left open the prospect of considering the five-year measure that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved last month if a sufficient number of Republicans throw their support behind it. Such support does not exist right now, he said.
He added that party and committee leaders will continue to talk to rank-and-file Republicans about backing a measure closer to the House bill, which has attracted opposition from conservatives concerned about its cost.
Absent a shift in support, the Speaker said the House will “bring up the Senate bill or something like it.” The Ways and Means Committee could offer tax-related changes to the Senate plan, which the Senate is expected to pass as early as March 13.
Boehner’s comments to reporters appeared to catch some Republicans by surprise, even though his aides said they were consistent with what the has been saying to his caucus.
“It would be a problem if the Speaker abandons an open and transparent process in the House that lets us consider proposals,” said Rep.
Boehner’s comments signaled that Majority Whip
“The whip count came back a little better,” Pennsylvania Republican
Transportation Chairman
Facing the March 31 expiration of the most recent authorization of the transportation programs (PL 112-30), Boehner is clearly trying to avert the turmoil that would result if Congress does not pass a bill renewing transportation programs.
The Senate measure is, at the moment, the only viable alternative. It lacks support from many conservative Republicans but has the backing of some GOP lawmakers and most Democrats.
Boehner Says House Will Consider Senate Transportation Bill
While some Republicans embrace Mica’s measure, it has not gained sufficient support from the caucus, even after leaders floated changing the funding of transit programs to restore the program’s dedicated funding account that the Mica bill would have eliminated.
“Chairman Mica has pushed for ground-breaking reforms and the elimination of programs that have eaten up the Highway Trust Fund,” said Rep.
Barletta, whose family had been in the highway construction business, said the Senate version “does nothing to create work for infrastructure.”
Barletta said that next week’s recess “could not have come at a worse time,” given the need for more time to win over resistant Republican lawmakers.