House Passes 3 Bills Containing Extensions, Extra HTF Money

 

The first piece of legislation is House Joint Resolution 64, a continuing resolution to extend Defense Department appropriations, surface transportation authorization and other matters.

The House of Representatives approved a trio of bills that would extend surface transportation authorization until Dec. 23, Feb. 28, and Sept. 30. A continuing resolution providing authority for federal surface transportation programs expired, creating this complex series of legislative maneuvers. Extra funding for highways means that landscape architects and contractors will be needed to design and build the landscape improvements.

HR 3326, the Defense appropriations bill, was also passed by the House. This measure contains an extension of surface transportation authorization until Feb. 28. This gives the Senate time to pass a job-creation bill early this year.

The jobs bill, HR 2847, contains numerous transportation provisions including $37.3 billion in extra funding for highways, bridges, mass transit, Amtrak, aviation, and shipyards. Its authorization provisions include an extension of existing policies, programs, and contract authority through Sept. 30, the end of federal Fiscal Year 2010.

This measure would restore the highway programs baseline funding level for FY 2010 from $30 billion to $41.546 billion, which would make up for the billion dollars per month lost thus far under the continuing resolutions. ?EUR??,,????'?????<