In The News
Reactions to highway bill mixed across industry
WASHINGTON – The trucking industry posted largely positive reaction to the House of Representatives' passage November 5 of a new transportation bill, though most industry advocacy groups managed to pepper their praise with some criticisms.
The Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform Act (STRR) continues transportation programs with little increase in spending over the next six years, authorizing $325 billion in spending through the 2021 federal budget year. The bill, however, provides only enough money for the first three years of the period, since lawmakers were unable to resolve political differences over funding the entire six years. House and Senate members must now try to work out sticking points between STRR and a similar Senate transportation bill passed in July. The resulting bill then goes to President Obama for his signature.
Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, generally praised STRR.
"We congratulate Chairman (Bill) Shuster, R-Pa., and Ranking Member (Peter) DeFazio, D-Ore., for leading the passage of a long-term, bipartisan highway bill," Graves said. "We are also pleased that lawmakers continued to support a strong federal role in transportation by soundly rejecting a resolution that endorsed devolving the funding of roads and bridges to states. We are also pleased that the House bill underscores the primacy of federal work and safety laws."
Graves, along with several other trucking spokesmen, criticized the continued inclusion of interstate tolls in the bill.
"Unfortunately, both the House and Senate bills envision a continued prominent role for new interstate tolls despite their inefficiency and unpopularity," Graves said, "and we hope a final bill resolves that issue by avoiding the expansion of interstate tolling authority and, preferably, by eliminating existing loopholes."
The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates commended the House for not expanding the number of states eligible to impose new tolls. Three states, North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri, are allowed to experiment with interstate tolls, under restrictions, through the Interstate System Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Pilot Program (ISRRPP).
Interstate tolls also drew criticism from NATSO, the trade group representing truck stops and travel plazas.
"We appreciate the House's commitment to moving forward a multi-year bill," said NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings. "However, we don't support tolling on existing interstates."
The changes to ISRRPP in the bill "lowers the bar for approval of [tolling] pilot programs and would make it more difficult for the public to challenge pilot program approvals," a NATSO news release stated.
Most of the comments praised the "bipartisan" nature of the debate and the final House vote. Shuster and DeFazio, ranking members of each party on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, worked together to get the bill out of committee, news sources reported, and the vote of 363-64 obviously represented "ayes" by a majority of both parties.
"Bipartisanship claimed victory today on the floor of the House as lawmakers rejected partisan business as usual in favor or passing a long-term highway-transit reauthorization bill," said Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department. Wytkind also noted, however, that the "funding levels do not meet our country's mounting transportation challenges."
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa also praised the lack of partisan bickering, but criticized possible changes in driver working conditions.
"A bipartisan collection of lawmakers came together today to back a long-term plan for transportation that will help give state and local governments the certainty they need to move forward on some [of] our nation's most important transportation projects for years to come," Hoffa said. "However, the Teamsters remain extremely concerned with their inclusion of overly-broad and dangerous language which would preempt state meal and rest break laws that protect ... commercial drivers."
James G. Toscas, president and CEO of the Portland Cement Association, joined in the praise. "As the backbone of the U.S. economy, infrastructure should always be a top priority for our federal government," he said. "Thanks go to [Committee] Chairman Bill Shuster and Ranking Member Peter DeFazio for recognizing this, and for their bipartisan leadership in passing this bill."
Finally, Marcia Hale, president of Building America's Future, an organization that promotes infrastructure investment, laid it on the line, reflecting many complaints about the need to address the nation's highway, bridge and transportation network's condition.
"Congress has a history of kicking the can down the road with short-term funding bills that make it highly difficult for projects — such as road and bridge maintenance, and transit network repairs — to start or continue," Hale said. "While we see this long-term bill as a positive sign, we still believe that the funding levels outlined (in the bill) are less than optimal, and will hardly make a dent in the massive infrastructure and transportation funding deficit currently facing our country."
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].