TEA LU to reauthorize Federal trails and transportation programs

The latest funding bill to reauthorize TEA is TEA LU, which would guarantee $283.9 billion through 2009 was officially introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives February 9, 2005. There was a proposed $299 billion compromise last fall. According to NRPA at that time, "The Senate approved $318 billion in April [2004], but the House, pressured by the White House and Republican leadership, reduced its original request of $375 billion down to $284 billion. The Administration ceiling is $256 billion."

Following is from the House news release:

The bipartisan legislation (H.R. 3) - "The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users" (TEA LU) - was introduced by:

* Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Chairman, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

* Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-MN), Ranking Democrat, Transportation Committee

* Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), Chairman, Highways, Transit & Pipelines Subcommittee

* Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Democrat, Highways & Transit Subcommittee

"The reauthorization of TEA 21 is now more than a year overdue," said Ranking Democrat James Oberstar. "Last year, we were unable to reach consensus between our Committee, the leadership of the House, the Administration and the other body.  We cannot afford to put this action off any longer. We need to move this bill quickly and get it through conference by the end of May, when the current authorization extension expires."

-- TEA LU reauthorizes the federal highway, public transportation, highway safety, and motor carrier safety programs for six years, from fiscal years 2004 through 2009.

-- The policy features of the bill from the last Congress are retained. The legislation provides a total of $283.9 billion in guaranteed funding &endash; a 42 percent increase over the guaranteed funding for TEA 21 (1998-2003).

-- The bill's funding level has been formally endorsed by the Administration. President Bush's updated reauthorization proposal, which was submitted with the fiscal year 2006 Budget, supports a six-year reauthorization at $283.9 billion.

-- The legislation's guaranteed funding level of $283.9 billion reflects the same funding level that Congressional negotiations had centered on in the closing days of the 108th Congress. The bill's guaranteed funding is $4.5 billion higher than that the guaranteed funding level of $279.4 billion passed by the House of Representatives in April 2004, due to recent tax law changes made in last October's American Jobs Creation Act.

official news and bill summaries are at http://www.house.gov/transportation/