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......
Transportation Appropriations Heading to House Floor
June 20, 2012
The House Appropriations Committee marked up the Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bill, which passed by voice vote. The bill’s overall total of $51.6 billion in discretionary spending would be $3.9 billion less than fiscal 2012 and $1.9 billion less than the president’s request, however due to the current economic climate the cuts......
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faced with a vote on a motion to instruct conferees to cut transportation funding levels, only to have that motion withdrawn late Thursday afternoon on a technical issue.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......
ASCE ENERGIZED FOR LATEST ECONOMIC STUDY
April 26, 2012
ASCE has released the latest report in the Failure to Act economic study series today – Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Electricity Infrastructure. This report assesses the nation’s aging energy facilities and analyzes how accelerating investments in the nation’s transmission, generation, and distribution systems will prevent unnecessary costs to......
Congressional Recess Is Here, But A Surface Transportation Compromise Is Not Near
April 03, 2012
Congress went home last Friday for a two week recess after punting action on surface transportation another 90 days. Surface transportation programs have been running on a series of extensions for 916 days already, and this 9th extension will continue to add up the count until June 30th. Many in the transportation industry have grown......
AWWA Helps Build the Case for Investment in Water Infrastructure
February 28, 2012
Our friends at the American Water Works Association (AWWA) have just released a new comprehensive report echoing the call for investment in water infrastructure. They found that the massive investment needed for buried drinking-water infrastructure in the United States totals more than $1 trillion between now and 2035. The need will double from roughly $13......
Senate Finance Crosses Finish Line
February 08, 2012
The Senate Finance Committee put the last puzzle piece in place last night when they voted the revenue portions of S. 1813, MAP-21, out of committee. The committee voted 17-6, with four Republicans voting with Democrats, in order to complete the last step before the legislation could reach the Senate floor. Senators will now vote......
A Promising Week for Transportation Legislation
February 02, 2012
It’s been a whirlwind week in Washington, D.C. for transportation as both the House and the Senate try to build momentum to pass much-needed reauthorization bills. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unveiled their American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) on Tuesday at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol Building on an unusually warm......
An ASCE Take on the State of the Union
January 24, 2012
The President will be speaking before a Joint session of Congress and the American people tonight to discuss the State of the Union. The first State of the Union was delivered by President George Washington in January 1790 and since then has become a vehicle for a sitting President to outline his legislative agenda for......