Conference committee members have reached a compromise on a bill to reauthorize transportation funding through the end of fiscal year 2014.
Committee members included Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. The bill they and dozens of other conferees negotiated was House Resolution 4348 and included a provision regarding the RESTORE Act, which would distribute money to Gulf Shore states affected by the BP oil spill. The final conference report establishes a Gulf Shore Restoration Trust Fund and places 80 percent of all civil penalties paid by responsible parties in connection with the oil spill into that trust. According to the report, "funding may be used to invest in projects and activities to restore the long-term health of the coastal ecosystem and local economies in the Gulf Coast Region, which includes the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Texas."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the compromise is a "big win for the middle class."
"I couldn't be more pleased to announce … that we have a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a transportation bill which saves and creates millions of jobs," Boxer said in a June 28 statement. "Not only will this reform bill provide a boost to the economy and the construction industry, but it is a big win for the middle class, business and our environment. This agreement provides stability and flexibility for the nation's transportation planners, invests in America's crumbling roads and bridges and puts people back to work."
The transportation funding bill expired in 2009. Capito pointed out in her opening statement in a May 8 meeting of conferees that states, counties and municipalities have operated under a series of short-term extensions
"This process is unsustainable and unacceptable," Capito said in her statement. "The uncertainty created by this fractured approach has stalled projects from getting started and caused states to reconsider many new projects which could improve the movement of goods and people."
Although a compromise has been reached in conference committee, the committee's 91-page report must be accepted by both chambers of Congress.
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