Senate Approves Reauthorization Bill!
February 13, 2004
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Last night the Senate approved S.1072, its six-year highway,
transit and safety reauthorization bill, by a vote of 76-21. The bill includes
$56.5 billion for transit, $255 billion for highways, and $6 billion for safety;
the highway and transit amounts are guaranteed and firewalled. The measure
also authorizes $2 billion annually for Amtrak. The vote came a day after
the Administration issued a veto threat, but once the Senate voted 86-11 for
cloture early yesterday delaying tactics were stalled and debate proceeded
smoothly; the final vote was nine more votes than the two-thirds needed to
override the threatened veto. No amendments were adopted affecting the federal
transit program. See our February 4, 2004, Legislative Update on the APTA
website at www.apta.com for a summary of the transit provisions of S.1072.
We will have a more complete summary available soon.
Debate will now shift to the House, which Wednesday passed a four-month
extension to TEA 21. Reports are that House Speaker Dennis Hastert will try
to work out differences with the White House; he has said he sees no advantage
in forcing a veto fight in a Presidential election year. The House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee is still working on its bill, and is expected
to mark that bill up early in March. There are some reports that the House
may prefer a simple two-year bill rather than accept a bill in the range of
the $256 billion supported by the Administration, but the strong Senate vote
may strengthen efforts in the House to pass a six-year bill with funding in
the range of the Senate bill. Stay tuned! For further information, contact
APTA's Rob Healy at (202) 496-4811 or email rhealy@apta.com.
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Action Call!
- With Congress on recess next week, contact your congressional delegation's
district offices and urge them to support a reauthorization bill in
the House with funding levels no less than those in the Senate-passed
bill - $56.5 billion for transit.
- Continue to use the Transit Action Center on the APTA website at
www.apta.com to make your support for reauthorization known. Our thanks
for the thousands and thousands of letters that came through the Transit
Action Center during Transit Takes Action week!
- And don't forget to register for APTA's Legislative Conference,
March 7-9. It's less than a month away! We need you here to make the
case for Reauthorization Now!
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