Missouri Bicycle News

February 3, 2004, 1 pm eastern
Hi folks,

After many months of anticipation, TEA-21 renewal legislation is moving. The full US Senate began debate today on their bill (S. 1072, SAFETEA).

The Senate bill moved to the floor after a flurry of activity on Monday, Feb 2. The Finance Committee approved a package which fully funds highways and cobbles together funding for transit. The total package directs $311 billion to transportation over the next six years.

After the Finance Committee action, the full Senate approved a ?motion for cloture? which sent the bill to the floor and limits debate to 30 hours. That means the Senate could complete work on their TEA-21 authorization bill in the next week or two. You can watch Senate proceedings on-line on
C-SPAN2.

Status of America Bikes priorities in the Senate bill S. 1072:

* Safe Routes to School is at $70 million a year. We?ve been worried that an amendment could be offered to eliminate the program, but we've lined up strong bi-partisan support, so our concerns have eased somewhat. We will let you know if we need to flood the Senate with calls.

* S. 1072 increases funding for Enhancements, Rec Trails and CMAQ. These programs seem fairly secure, and we do not anticipate attacks on them, but again, we?re watching closely.

* Complete Streets, alas, is not part of the Senate package.

* Senator Snowe (R-ME) plans to introduce an amendment to include the Bike Commuter Act in S. 1072. The League of American Bicyclists is taking the lead on this effort, I?ll forward an action alert if the League issues one.

Our Senate game plan is a defensive one as no one is attacking our priorities directly (I suspect last summer?s Enhancements battle helped). So now we watch and wait. Big battles on the Senate floor will likely center on weakening historic preservation requirements, loosening water quality and clean air standards, reducing funds for local planning, ?streamlining? and the perennial favorites: funding for rail and transit and the distribution of money between states.

Meanwhile, over in the House, the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is scheduled to take up their bill (H.R. 3550, TEA-LU) the week of February 23rd. Leaders in the House are trying to reach agreement on their funding package. Their bill is more ambitious, calling for $375 billion which would require an increase in gas taxes, a touchy issue in an election year.

The House bill funds Safe Routes at $250 million a year, and preserves Enhancements, Rec Trails, Scenic Byways and CMAQ. Just last week, the America Bikes team worked with Rep Boehlert (R-NY) and Rep Udall (D-CO) to include bicycling and walking in the list of research topics for the US Department of Transportation. The language also specifically calls for research on bicycling and walking in the National Parks.

Once the House and the Senate complete work on their bills, a conference committee will work out differences between the two versions. America Bikes will be very interested in that process, since there are positive items for bicycling that exist in one version but not the other. Then the bill goes to the President for his signature.

Of course, the whole process could still come to a screeching halt, particularly if money issues can?t be resolved.

TEA-21 officially expired on October 1, 2003, and Congress passed an extension through the end of February 2004. Congress clearly will not complete work on the bill by the end of February, so we expect another extension. If the bills keep moving this spring, they?ll likely pass a two month extension, til the end of April.

If things bog down, Congress may change gears and look at a long-term extension, or even a one or two year bill.

The bike community has worked very hard on this legislation for the past two years. Several of our priorities are incorporated into the bills. Now we face a nerve-wracking wait. As always, we?ll keep you posted, and we hope to see you at the League?s National Bikes Summit www.bikeleague.org.
More info at www.americabikes.org.

Onward,

-m
Martha Roskowski
Campaign Manager, America Bikes
202-833-8080 phone
Martha @ americabikes.org

Related:

News: Transportation Enhancements comes to House vote Thurs, September 4th

News: California dedicates 1/3 of safety money to Safe Routes to Schools