Financing federal highways & infrastructure

The nation’s road and bridge projects have been financed primarily by the gas tax in the past, but H.R. 3819 would use the Treasury Department’s general fund to cover surface transportation expenses because the Highway Trust Fund currently is experiencing a modest shortfall. The Transportation Department projects that highway fund balances will start to decline rapidly in the spring of 2016 when the next construction season begins.

Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a multiyear highway authorization bill — the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763) — that proposes to convert the highway program to a block grant funding system with the goal of providing more flexibility to state and local governments.

“The STRR Act is fiscally responsible and authorizes federal surface transportation programs for six years,” said chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA). “A safe, efficient network of roads, bridges, and public transit means that we spend less time in traffic, transportation costs for goods and services remain lower, and more jobs are created throughout the economy. That’s what this bill does in a way that I believe ensures a strong and appropriate federal role in surface transportation, enables our country to remain competitive, and improves Americans’ quality of life.”

The Senate passed its own six-year surface transportation bill — the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act DRIVE Act (H.R. 22) or DRIVE Act — in July, but the legislation was never considered in the House because it was not fully paid for.

“Both the Senate and the House bills have many similarities that will allow for a very short conference period,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) following approval of the STRR Act by Shuster’s committee. “With this milestone, Congress should be able to send a bill to the president’s desk by Thanksgiving. This will allow for our nation to avoid the Highway Trust Fund hitting a dangerously low level.”

The 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was the last long-term surface transportation bill enacted into law. It expired in 2009 and was followed by 33 shorter-term extensions. Highway programs currently are operating under the authorization of the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114–41), which runs through October 29.

Debt Limit

The House and Senate also are expected to send the White House legislation lifting the debt ceiling at some point this week or possibly early next week. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned lawmakers that the debt limit will be reached by November 3.

“At that point, we expect Treasury would be left with less than $30 billion to meet all of the nation’s commitments — an amount far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion,” Lew wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders. “Operating the United States government with no borrowing authority, and with only the cash on hand on a given day, would be profoundly irresponsible.”

Given the looming deadline, there is a high probability that the Republican-controlled House and Senate will pass a “clean” bill raising the debt ceiling — absent language requiring offsets — with the help of Democrats. President Obama has said he would sign a clean debt limit measure.

Cybersecurity

The Senate this week will continue debate on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S. 754), or CISA Act, which would encourage private entities to share information with the federal government about possible threats to computer networks and provide liability protections for those firms.

Last week, the Senate rejected an amendment proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that would have prohibited liability immunity for businesses that break user or privacy agreements with their customers.

“Most companies have a privacy agreement,” said Paul. “It is supposed to guarantee that your information, individual choices, and consumer choices on the Internet are not revealed to anyone. This bill says that if the company violates it in sharing your information, there will be legal immunity for that company. I think that weakens privacy.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC), who wrote the bill with ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), countered that companies are not required to share their cyber threat data.

“If for some reason [companies] find there is something in this piece of legislation they are uncomfortable with or they are concerned about with regard to the transfer of any personal data, they do not have to participate,” said Burr.

Several floor amendments to S. 754 currently await votes, including language drafted by Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) that would provide the Office of Personnel Management with an additional $37 million in emergency funding to accelerate the completion of its cybersecurity upgrades in the wake of this year’s widely publicized hack to the department’s personnel and security clearance databases.

A final vote on the CISA Act is expected later this week.

Dyslexia research, Fannie Mae exec pay also on tap

The House floor schedule for this week also includes the: