With just seven weeks until the most-recent extension for highway & transit programs expires 鈥 on July 31 鈥 the Fourth of July Congressional recess is the perfect opportunity for you to schedule an in-person meeting with your Senators and Representative. Use this time to educate your members of Congress on the real impacts their inaction has had on your business and employees. Spread theHardhats for Highways message and tell them to fix the Highway Trust Fund and pass a long-term highway & transit bill.
With just seven weeks until the most-recent extension for highway & transit programs expires 鈥 on July 31 鈥 the Fourth of July Congressional recess is the perfect opportunity for you to schedule an in-person meeting with your Senators and Representative. Use this time to educate your members of Congress on the real impacts their inaction has had on your business and employees. Spread theHardhats for Highways message and tell them to fix the Highway Trust Fund and pass a long-term highway & transit bill.
One of the last steps the Senate took before leaving for its Memorial Day recess was to approve a House-passed bill extending the federal highway program until July 31, 2015. The new expiration date coincides with when the Highway Trust Fund is expected to approach a zero balance. If Congress can鈥檛 identify more federal transportation funds by the end of July, the Department of Transportation will be forced to cut reimbursement funding to states for ongoing projects. Congress settled on the two month extension after failing to find money to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through the end of the calendar year. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the president will sign the bill but urged Congress to take action on a long-term authorization and funding bill.
Now that Congress is poised to pass a 60-day extension of highway program, the Memorial Day recess is a good opportunity for you to schedule a meeting with your Senators and Representative to educate them on the difficulties these short term extensions cause you, your business, your employees and your state. Visit Hardhats For Highways to get help scheduling a meeting and delivering a special hardhat explaining how many workers at your company rely on federal transportation funding for their job. If an in-person visit is not possible, please send an email message through the Hardhats for Highways website and have your employees do so as well. Congress needs to understand that now is the time to complete action on a long-term funding bill.
Congress appears poised to send a simple two-month extension to President Obama before they leave town for their Memorial Day recess. This short-term extension funds highway & transit programs through July 31, allowing Congress to pass a bill without finding additional money to fund the Highway Trust Fund, which is set to run out of money later this summer.
As the May 31 deadline to reauthorize highway and transit programs approaches, there is still no clear path forward to address the need for a long-term bill. House and Senate leadership have indicated that an authorization extension is being considered but there is no agreement on its length. To go beyond July 31 will require additional revenue for the Highway Trust Fund. The Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees are working on an $11 billion short-term patch for highway and mass transit programs through the end of the year. Additionally, there appears to be some support for simply extending the Highway Trust Fund expenditure authority beyond May 31. Today, Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced a two-month extension that requires no additional money for the Highway Trust Fund.
This week, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) introduced S. 1186, the 鈥淢ove America Act of 2015.鈥 The 51风流-supported bill seeks to promote public-private partnerships in infrastructure development by creating up to $180 billion in new tax-exempt infrastructure bonds (similar to Private Activity Bonds) or up to $45 billion in tax credits that can be given to businesses that invest in infrastructure projects.
This week, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) introduced S. 1186, the 鈥淢ove America Act of 2015.鈥 The 51风流-supported bill seeks to promote public-private partnerships in infrastructure development by creating up to $180 billion in new tax-exempt infrastructure bonds (similar to Private Activity Bonds) or up to $45 billion in tax credits that can be given to businesses that invest in infrastructure projects.
As Congressional leaders deliberate on the pending expiration of the current transportation program extension, the 51风流-led Transportation Construction Coalition weighed in, urging them to move a short-term extension that will clearly lead to a well-funded multi-year reauthorization of Federal Highway and Transit programs.
51风流 submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on its proposal to end its long standing prohibition against the use of geographic-based/local hire preferences on construction contracts that receive federal funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). 51风流 called on DOT to stop the pilot program, which would allow state and local governments to use geographic hiring preferences over the next year, and to refrain from making these changes permanent by altering existing FHWA and FTA regulations that prohibit their use.