December 12, 2012
Congressional leaders and Obama Administration officials continued to meet behind closed doors the past several weeks in order to come to a compromise on the fiscal cliff. Many in Washington are speculating the possibility that the federal gas tax may be reexamined as a revenue option during discussions. Incoming House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill......
October 18, 2012
The Clean Water Act is 40 years old this week, and we are all so much better for it because it. As we near the end of 2012, we can look back and say we’ve made remarkable progress on cleaning up the nation’s waters. Forty years ago, people were afraid to swim or fish in our......
Senate Passes Temporary Spending Bill
September 26, 2012
Early last Sunday, the Senate voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government for the first half of Fiscal Year 2013, which begins October 1. The bill expires March 27, 2013 and will provide $1.047 trillion in discretionary spending, which matches the cap set in the Budget Control Act (BCA) signed in......
Check Out Our New “Failure to Act” Economic Report!
September 17, 2012
Last Thursday, ASCE released its latest “Failure to Act” report on the economic impact of underinvestment in America’s infrastructure. In the report, we’ve projected a significant gap between planned investment and spending needs for the nation’s airports, marine ports, and inland waterways. With ports and inland waterways critical to our nation’s global competitiveness, the report......
Congressional Budget Office Shows Concern for HTF
September 04, 2012
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts both accounts of the Highway Trust Fund will go broke sometime in FY 2015 unless Congress acts to shore up the fund that pays for surface transportation projects. According to a CBO chart obtained, the highway account will end FY 2012 with $8.7 billion and the transit account with......
Transportation Bill Signed Into Law
July 09, 2012
President Obama signed the surface transportation bill, MAP-21 (HR 4348), last Friday at the White House. The President’s signature comes 1,010 days after the last surface transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, expired. The new $118 billion, 27 month piece of legislation will fund programs until September 2014. ASCE President Andrew Herrmann, P.E., SECB, F.ASCE, was in attendance for......
State Legislators Ready to Tackle Transportation
July 04, 2012
We can take heart that there are policymakers working hard out in the states to help find solutions to restoring and improving the nation’s infrastructure. Last week ASCE staff had the opportunity to interact with a small group of state legislators from around the country who have distinguished themselves as leaders on transportation issues. Through......
House and Senate Pass Transportation Bill
July 02, 2012
UPDATE: The House of Representatives passed the transportation conference report by a vote of 373-52 Friday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill 74-19. The House and Senate worked vigorously all week to come to a compromise surface transportation conference report on Wednesday night. The announcement of a deal came over 1,000 days after the last......
SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BILL STILL UNCERTAIN
June 01, 2012
The House this week was initially faced with a vote on a motion to instruct conferees to cut transportation funding levels, only to have that motion withdrawn late Thursday afternoon on a technical issue. The motion from Representative Paul Broun (R-GA) would have tied Highway Trust Fund expenditures to estimated gas tax revenues, essentially cutting......
Transportation Conference Committee Kicks Off Talks
May 09, 2012
The surface transportation conference committee commenced its first meeting yesterday, with Senate and House conferees taking the opportunity to give opening remarks on what is anticipated to be one of the final hurdles in passing a transportation bill. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), author of MAP-21 (S. 1813) and chair of the conference committee, began the meeting......