Status 
After two weeks of significant progress, things are rapidly unraveling in both the House and Senate related to the surface transportation authorization bills. On February 15, House Speaker John Boehner announced that the House will not finish HR 7, the surface transportation authorization bill, the week of February 13 as they had hoped and debate on the transportation and revenue titles will not occur until after next week's recess. The House started floor debate on the oil and gas drilling title of the bill on February 15 and may move on to the federal pension title, but will definitely not debate the T&I and Ways & Means titles until the week of February 27. The Rules Committee has now postponed indefinitely the meeting they had scheduled for February 15 to address the proposed amendments to the T&I and Ways & Means Committee titles, such as the Nadler-Blumenauer-LaTourette amendment to restore gas tax revenues to the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund.
There may now also be a problem with using the federal pension reform offset to pay for the $40B General Fund transfer to fund the transit program. It appears some or all of the pension savings is needed to offset the extension of the unemployment benefits and the Medicare "doctor fix".
The House Republican leadership has decided to split their huge and controversial bill into three pieces and have separate floor votes on each piece - the transportation and revenue title HR 7, the oil and gas drilling title, and the federal pension reform title (the offset to the General Fund transfer used to fund the new Alternative Transportation Account). Assuming the three bills each pass, they would then be put back together after the fact into one massive bill. This very unusual action is being taken because House Republican leaders now fear they do not have the votes to pass the full package given potentially unanimous Democratic opposition and opposition from moderate, suburban Republicans as well as Republican fiscal hawks.
In addition, over 260 amendments have been filed with the Rules Committee -- so many that the Rules Committee was not able to address them all when they met on February 14. Here is a link to a list of the amendments that have been submitted to the Rules Committee for consideration.
On February 14, the Administration issued its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on HR 7. It states in part, "Because this bill jeopardizes safety, weakens environmental and labor protections, and fails to make the investments needed to strengthen the nation's roads, bridges, rail and transit systems, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto this legislation".
In the Senate, gridlock continues over the large number of non-germane amendments Senators want to offer to S. 1813. Majority Leader Harry Reid has been forced to schedule another cloture vote for Friday, February 17 to try to get the Senate debate back on track.
EPW Chair Barbara Boxer has raised serious concerns about the extraneous amendments, including ones related to contraception, aid to Egypt, federal pay freeze, line-item veto, etc. Even Senator Vitter (R-LA), one of the Senate EPW "Big Four" has filed some unrelated amendments. Boxer has asked stakeholder groups to contact Senate Majority Leader McConnell and urge him to make a deal with the Republican Senators to get the bill moving.
Administration
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White House Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on HR 7 - House Surface Transportation Authorization Bill
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White House Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on S. 1813 - Senate Surface Transportation Authorization Bill
- White House August 31 Memorandum on Expediting Priority Infrastructure Projects
- President Obama Rose Garden Statement on Reauthorization August 31, 2011
- US DOT Unofficial Draft Bill 5-1-11 [pdf 1.43 mb]
- US DOT Unofficial Draft Bill Section by Section 5-1-11 [pdf 786 kb]
- White House Fact Sheet on Surface Transportation Investments Announced by President Obama on Labor Day
House
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House Rules Committee List of Filed Floor Amendments to HR 7
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House Rules Committee Text of Entire HR 7 Including Revenue, Energy and Other Titles
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Section by Section Analysis of HR 7
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House T&I Committee Report on HR 7
- Text of HR 7 as Amended and Approved by the T&I Committee on 2/2/2012
- List of Amendments Approved During 2/2/2012 Full T&I Committee Markup
- Summary of HR 7, the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act
- Full Text of HR 7 as Introduced - The American Energy and Transportation Jobs Act [pdf 0 kb]
- House T&I Committee Overview of HR 7 American Energy & Infrastructure Act - Part 2 [pdf 540 kb]
- Text of HR 3864 House Ways & Means Committee Approved Revenue Title to HR 7
- Mica 7/13/11 Letter to US Chamber [doc 35 kb]
- Mica Press Release on his "A New Direction" Proposal
- Overview of Mica's "A New Direction" Proposal
- PNRS Letter to Mica and Rahall [pdf 440 kb]
Senate
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Text of S. 1813 as Approved by the Environment & Public Works Committee (Highway Title)
- Summary of Senate Banking Committee Federal Public Transportation Act of 2012
- Senate Finance Republicans Letter on Offsets [pdf 1.07 mb]
- Text of S. 1813 MAP-21 Senate EPW Two-Year Highway Title
- Summary of S. 1813 MAP-21 Senate EPW Two-Year Highway Title
- Senate EPW Committee Highway Title Overview - July 19, 2011
- Senate Banking Committee July 7, 2011 Statement on House Transit Proposal
- Senate EPW July 6, 2011 Press Release on Status of Highway Bill
- Senate EPW May 25, 2011 Joint Statement on Transportation Authorization Legislation
- 111th Congress - Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee - Rockefeller - Lautenberg Draft Bill, the Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act, May 2009 [pdf 53kb]

