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June 4, 2012 – 11:02 p.m.

GOP Delivers Highway Bill Warning

By Nathan Hurst and Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff

House Republicans say they are willing to walk away from highway bill talks if they cannot get what they want on issues including approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and limiting the EPA regulation of coal ash, a move that clouds prospects for completing legislation before the June 30 deadline.

“If we can’t get serious about finding common ground, the bill will fail,” said Pennsylvania Republican Bill Shuster, a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee chairman and a deputy whip.

Shuster acknowledged that the House GOP leadership’s inability to pass its five-year, $260 billion transportation proposal (HR 7) “weakens our hand in the conference committee.” But, he added, “It’s not an option for us to give away the House position.”

Shuster said House conferees will insist on provisions to relax some environmental laws, limit regulation of coal ash, mandate quick approval of the pipeline and expand oil and gas production on public lands and in federal waters. Republicans are counting on revenue from increased energy production to bolster the Highway Trust Fund.

Transportation and Infrastructure member Randy Hultgren, a freshman Republican from Illinois, also expressed pessimism about prospects for a final deal. “It’s become political,” he said. “Neither side is motivated to make agreements.”

Unless progress is made this week, Hultgren added, the House and Senate “probably will give up” and pass another extension of current highway programs through the end of the year.

Industry lobbyists have also dimmed their outlook on prospects for conferees to wrap up their work before the current extension (PL 112-102) expires at the end of the month.

A Significant Disconnect

While Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and other Senate Democrats “have a policy incentive to move quickly,” an industry lobbyist said, “the reverse is true for the House.”

That does not bode well for Senate Democrats, who had been hoping to position their two-year, $109 billion transportation bill (S 1813) as the basis for a conference agreement. Boxer, who is serving as conference chairwoman, has said that about 80 percent of the transportation title is “non-controversial.”

But there has been a significant disconnect between House and Senate negotiators on the remaining issues of disagreement.

Senate Democrats contend they have already conceded significant ground to Republicans in negotiating their chamber’s bill. Instead of passing its own full highway reauthorization, the House opted to pass a 90-day extension (HR 4348).

Senate negotiators have balked at accepting House provisions that were part of the House authorization bill that was never brought to the floor. That has irritated some House Republican freshmen who feel sidelined by the conference process.

GOP Delivers Highway Bill Warning

A spokesman for House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John L. Mica said the Florida Republican has been “very clear” about expressing GOP priorities in negotiations. The spokesman said Mica has emphasized that “the House remains committed to the inclusion of Keystone in the conference report.”

The pipeline would bring crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to Texas refineries. Republicans have used the issue to criticize President Obama, and included language last year in a payroll tax extension (PL 112-78) demanding a quick presidential decision on the pipeline. Citing what he described as an unreasonable deadline, Obama rejected the project — but invited the prospective builder, TransCanada, to resubmit its application when plans were more complete.

The latest pessimism about the conference committee’s prospects contrasts with Boxer’s sunny forecast after a discussion last month with House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. Boxer said then that the Speaker had urged House negotiators to complete the conference report in time for Obama to sign it into law by the end of this month. She also said there were no insurmountable “sticking points.”

Later this week, Georgia Republican Paul Broun plans to introduce a motion instructing House conferees to limit fiscal 2013 highway expenditures to $37.5 billion — about the amount the Congressional Budget Office projects the Highway Trust Fund is expected to bring in. That would cut spending by about one-third from current authorized levels.

While motions to instruct conferees are not binding, adoption of Broun’s proposal would signal a hardening of the House GOP position and complicate conference negotiations, since the Senate bill counts on a bevy of budget offsets to maintain highway funding at current levels.

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