Highway Program Extended to December 18

Nov. 2 -- The Associated General Contractors reported that, with the Oct. 30 deadline having arrived for the first 30-day extension of SAFETEA-LU authorization, with no action on separate extension legislation, the House and the Senate included language that will continue highway and transit program spending authorization until Dec. 18, 2009, via a continuing resolution required to fund most of federal government work.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee bipartisan leadership had hoped to enact a six month extension of the program and to address in that bill the $8.7 billion rescission of contract authority that went into effect on Sept. 30, AGC said.

However, objections from two Republican senators prevented the bill from coming to the Senate floor. Both the Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) and the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) contacted senators to support enactment of a six-month extension, but also urged that the Senate use this time to continue working on a six-year bill with enhanced transportation investment. The House already has passed a three-month extension, also with the intent of continuing to work on the long term bill.

In an effort to keep the pressure on Congress to complete action on the reauthorization bill soon the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) have initiated the Start Us Up USA campaign. In the last week of October, AEM and AED organized an event on the Washington Mall which included a caravan of construction equipment, to bring attention to the dire employment conditions in the construction industry, and specifically the equipment manufacturer segment.

House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I) chair James Oberstar (D-Minn.) addressed the crowd, calling for a multi-year reauthorization bill that puts Americans back to work.