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Senate committee approves highway bill extension

WASHINGTON — The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday unanimously approved the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, which funds highway programs at current levels through Jan. 31, 2012.

SAFETEA-LU, which is the existing surface transportation authorization legislation, expires on Sept. 30.

“I am very pleased with the unanimous vote today. I look forward to early action on the Senate floor,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, the committee chairman. “The EPW Committee has shown it can work together so that we can put people to work rebuilding the infrastructure of our nation.”

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., EPW ranking member, noted Congress has already passed seven extensions, and urged senators from both parties to support an eighth.

“Passing the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 is essential.  It’s a no-brainer,” Inhofe said. “What matters is passing a two-year bill.  If we fail to enact an extension prior to the end of this fiscal year, thousands of highway projects will be at risk of being stopped in their tracks, which would threaten tens of thousands of jobs.”

Last week, Boxer and Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, released numbers from the U.S. Department of Transportation which showed that 1.8 million jobs will be threatened nationwide unless Congress passes legislation to extend SAFETEA-LU.

The Senate is continuing to work on a bipartisan proposal, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), that will reauthorize transportation programs at current funding levels for two years.

In July, Boxer and Inhofe released an outline for MAP-21, which modernizes and reforms the nation’s transportation systems to help create jobs and build the foundation for long-term prosperity.

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at [email protected] .

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