House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) said today that the House of Representatives will not try to pass a transportation reauthorization bill before the end of December. This statement contradicts an announcement earlier this month by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that the House would seek pass a five-year bill by the end of the year.
Discussions in House over a long-term transportation bill have heated up in the past several months, as House leadership has expressed a willingness to find new revenues to close the estimated $10-13 billion annual gap between Highway Trust Fund revenues and current levels of transportation funding. Speaker Boehner had suggested that revenues from expanded offshore oil and gas drilling could offset this gap and vowed to pass a bill that incorporated these offsets by the end of the year. However, with less than a month left before the House is set to recess for the holidays and with an impending congressional showdown over FY 2012 appropriations, it appears that the House will abandon attempts to introduce and pass a bill prior to 2012.
A short-term authorization is providing funding for federal transportation programs through March of 2012, leaving Congress with several months to pass a transportation bill upon returning from recess in January.
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