The Ferguson Group Blog

House Won't Move Transportation Bill This Year

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.

Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction Fails to Reach Agreement

Today, the two co-chairmen of the  Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (also known as the “supercommittee”), Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), announced that the panel has failed to come up with an agreement to find $1.2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years. Created by the Budget Control Act that ended the debt ceiling debate in August, the Deficit Reduction Committee had been charged with delivering a plan to save at least $1.2 trillion by November 23^rd.

Failure to reach an agreement will result in the adoption of automatic spending caps that will cut $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending over nine years, starting in January 2013.  The cuts will be split 50/50 between defense and non-defense programs. 

There has been talk in Congress about legislation to repeal the automatic cuts, but President Obama has said he would veto such efforts.  Many Pentagon officials are concerned with how the automatic cuts will affect military readiness, so we may see efforts in Congress to address the military cuts separately from the domestic cuts.

The panel was unable to come to an agreement given wide ideological differences between the two parties on the issue of using revenue increases to reduce the deficit.

President Obama Signs into Law First Minibus Spending Package and Continuing Resolution

Today, President Obama signed into law a FY 2012 “minibus” spending package (H.R. 2112) that contains three of the twelve annual appropriations bills and sets FY 2012 spending levels for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as NASA and the National Science Foundation. By passing this legislation with strong bipartisan support yesterday, Congress avoided a potential government shutdown at midnight tonight. This bill marks the first yearlong spending measure enacted for FY2012 and provides almost $300 billion in total spending.

The minibus adhered to spending caps set by August’s debt ceiling compromise, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) absorbing the most significant funding cut. HUD funding dropped approximately 10% from FY 2011 levels, with the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program suffering a 16% cut and all funding for HUD’s Sustainable Communities grants eliminated. Outside of HUD, most agencies fared relatively well under this bill – Agriculture spending was only cut 2% and the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Transportation saw slight funding increases. The bill also includes $2.3 billion in emergency disaster relief to assist victims of recent natural disasters.

Along with setting FY 2012 spending levels for these agencies, the minibus also included a Continuing Resolution that will allow the government to stay funded through December 16^th. Congress is expected to act next on the appropriations bills funding the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Treasury, Small Business Administration, General Services Administration, and State Department.

House of Representatives Unanimously Passes 3% Withholding Legislation

Last night, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the Senate-amended bill (H.R. 674) that would repeal a rule requiring federal, state and some local governments to withhold 3 percent of payments to contractors.

The bill would also provide tax credits to companies that hire unemployed veterans and would expand employment and training services to veterans and service members.  The bill would provide up to 12 months of Veterans Retraining Assistance to approximately 99,000 unemployed veterans that enter education or training programs at community colleges or technical schools to prepare them for employment in an occupational field that is determined by Department of Labor to have significant employment opportunities.

The bill now moves to the White House for President Obama's signature.

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Announces 12 New Grant Programs

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently announced 12 new grant programs totaling an estimated $204.1 million. These grants will support projects that work to improve safety, maintain a state of good repair, and make communities more livable. Descriptions for each program, along with selection criteria, are available below. All applications are due to local FHWA Division Offices by January 6, 2012. Contact information for each local FHWA Division Office can be found at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/about/field.cfm.

It is important to review each grant program description carefully, especially the selection criteria. In some cases the funds are awarded only to states. If you are interested in those funds, you should contact your State DOT immediately to become part of the state’s application. In other cases, such as TCSP, Value Pricing Pilot Program, and Truck Parking Facilities, the funding is available to local governments directly.

Listed below are the approximate amounts of funding currently available (including any carryover funding from previous years) for the 12 discretionary grant programs. The actual amount available for award in each program is subject to change pending final calculations of Federal-aid highway program funding distributions or any additional funding provided by Congress.

For more detailed information on each program and the specific requirements, please click on the individual links.

Delta Region Transportation Development - $4.7million
Ferry Boat - $22.2 million
Highways for Life - $9.5 million
Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment - up to $4.2 million
Interstate Maintenance - $47.3 million
National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation - $4.7 million
National Scenic Byways Program - $20.6 million
Public Lands Highways - $45 million
Rail Highway Crossing Elimination in High Speed Rail Corridors - $7.1 million
Transportation, Community and System Preservation - $29 million
Truck Parking Facilities - $2.9 million
Value Pricing Pilot Program - $6.9 million

Obama Administration Makes $1 Billion in Health Care Innovation Grants Available

Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the availability of up to $1 billion in grant funding for projects that develop innovative methods of delivering better health, improved care, and lower costs to persons enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP. These grants are funded by the healthcare reform bill passed during the last Congress.

A wide variety of entities, including private and public health systems, local governments, and nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for these grants, which will range from $1 million to $30 million over a period of three years. Applicants should propose creative new models of service delivery and/or payment improvements that can be quantitatively assessed over the grant period. Priority will be given to projects that can begin within six months of award and focus on rapid workforce development.

To learn more about the grant program and access the notice of funding availability, click here.

Applicants interested in this program should note that mandatory Letters of Intent are due on December 19th, with full proposals due on January 27th, 2012.

Senate Passes 3% Withholding Repeal Legislation

Today, the Senate passed, by a vote of 95-0, a bill (H.R. 674) that repeals the burdensome 3 percent withholding tax requirement.

Before final passage, an amendment to H.R. 674 was approved, by a vote of 94-1, which would provide new tax credits for employers that hire unemployed veterans and require the Treasury to conduct a study of tax delinquency among federal contractors.

The inclusion of the tax credit for companies that hire veterans is based on elements of President Obama’s American Jobs Act (S. 1549), the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 (S. 951), and the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act (H.R. 2433).

Because H.R. 674 was amended, the bill must go back to the House for approval before going to the President for his signature.

The House originally passed H.R. 674 on October 27^th. The White House is supportive of H.R.674 and its timely passage.

Senate Rejects Partisan Infrastructure Proposals

On Thursday, the Senate considered dueling Democratic and Republican proposals that would provide funding for infrastructure projects and failed to advance either bill. The Democratic proposal, which was spun-off from President Obama’s American Jobs Act, would have provided $10 billion in funding to establish a National Infrastructure Bank capable of funding major transportation, energy, and water infrastructure projects. The bill also included $50 billion in new transportation infrastructure funding, most of which would be distributed by formula to states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations, with $5 billion reserved for the competitive TIGER grant program. The bill received 51 votes, short of the 60 needed for passage.

Senate Republicans offered an alternative infrastructure bill in the form of a two-year transportation reauthorization proposal. Both the Senate and the House have been working to pass legislation that would reauthorize the nation’s surface transportation programs, which have been funded under temporary authorizations since the last long-term authorization expired in 2009. The Republican proposal would have extended the current authorization for two more years, while reforming the environmental review and approval processes in an attempt to reduce construction times for projects. However, in order to cover the significant funding gap between current gas tax revenue and authorized highway spending levels, the bill would also have rescinded $40 billion in previously appropriated domestic funding. The bill was defeated primarily along party lines, as Democrats objected to the discretionary funding cut.

Senate Debates New Infrastructure Funding

The Senate is set to start debate today on a $60 billion infrastructure bill that would include $5 billion for the competitive TIGER transportation grant program and $10 billion to establish a National Infrastructure Bank. This legislation is the second piece of President Obama’s American Jobs Act that the Senate will take up since the Jobs Act was defeated in an October vote. Following the Jobs Act’s defeat, Senate leadership vowed to split the Jobs Act into multiple smaller proposals and attempt to pass each of those proposals individually. The first of these small bills, which would have provided $35 billion for states and local governments to hire teachers, police and firefighters, was defeated several weeks ago.

A vote on the infrastructure bill is expected on November 3^rd. 

House Passes Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011

On Tuesday, the House passed H.R. 1002, the Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011. The bill would ban state and local governments from imposing qualifying new taxes on mobile services, mobile companies, and mobile service property for five years. Specifically, the bill would prevent the institution of any tax that is not generally imposed on, or that is generally imposed at a lower rate on, other types of services, providers, or property, unless the tax was imposed and actually enforced prior to the enactment of this act.

In addition, H.R. 1002 authorizes the Comptroller General to conduct a study, throughout the five-year moratorium imposed by this act, to determine how, and the extent to which, taxes on mobile services, providers, or property impact the costs consumers pay for mobile services and the extent to which the moratorium has any impact on the costs consumers pay for mobile services.

The Senate has yet to take any action on the companion measure (S 543).