Rules Committee Hearing on Surface Transportation Authorization

The House Rules Committee announced a hearing this afternoon for the consideration of two bills; a VA accountability bill and an extension of the current surface transportation authorization (which expires Friday night) until October 31^st. TheHill.com is reporting that the transportation bill would be considered tomorrow and the House would then adjourn for their summer recess, leaving the Senate to approve either the new extension (in HR 3236), accept the previously passed 5 month extension (HR 3038), or let funding for transportation projects stop until the Congress returns in September.

Other than the length of the extension, HR 3236 and HR 3038 have very similar language with the exception that HR 3236 would include Title IV dealing with changes to some Veterans Administration programs. There is also an amendment proposed that the Rules Committee may look at this evening’s hearing that would provide for the extension of the Export-Import Bank Authorization until 2019.

HR 3038 Passed in House

This afternoon the House took up HR 3038 under a closed rule (limited debate, no amendments) and then passed the bill by a strangely bipartisan vote of 312 to 119. As we have been seeing this session it this was a vote of the moderates against the party wings with more Republicans than Democrats voting against the bill.

The current highway funding program stops on July 31^st when the extension provided by HR 2353 (Public Law No: 114-21) runs out. The Senate may still try to get a multi-year funding bill passed by that date; the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee marked up a portion of that legislation (S 1732) today, but once that bill is combined with other committee efforts it will take some time to get it through the floor amendment process.

Even HR 3038 will probably get amended in the Senate if it is brought to the floor. The Hill is reporting that it would get an Export-Import Bank rider attached to it. That would bring out the conservative opposition with Sen. Cruz (R,TX) already threatening a filibuster.

Something will be passed by midnight on July 31^st. It just is not clear if it will be this bill.

HR 3038 Introduced – Transportation Authorization Extension

Yesterday Rep Ryan (R,WI) introduced HR 3038, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, Part II. The bill would extend the current short term extension {HR 2353 (Public Law No: 114-21)} of the transportation funding authorization from July 31^st to December 18^th. Spending would be authorized at the current rates.

Revenue Enhancements

There are a couple of ‘revenue enhancements’ included in Title II of the bill. The one of possible interest to readers of this blog will be found in §2008, Equalization of Highway Trust Fund Excise Taxes on Liquefied Natural Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, and Compressed Natural Gas. It takes the already established idea of energy equivalency based upon the amount of energy in a gallon of gasoline set for CNG {26 USC 4041(a)(3)} and transfers it directly to LPG and indirectly to LNG (uses diesel instead of gasoline as the basis). It then establishes the excise rate for LPG and CNG at 18.3 cents per energy equivalent (5.75 lbs of LPG or 5.66 lbs of CNG). The rate for LNG is set at 24.3 cents per energy equivalent of a gallon of diesel (6.06 lbs).

Moving Forward

The House Rules Committee is currently meeting to formulate the rule for the consideration of HR 3038. This rule will probably allow a limited number of amendments (or perhaps none). We will see this bill considered either tomorrow or Thursday to allow the Senate a chance to consider and pass the bill before the current authorization runs out on July 31^st.

Bills Introduced – 07-13-15

There were 22 bills introduced in the House and Senate yesterday. Two of those may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 3038 To provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund, and for other purposes. Rep. Ryan, Paul [R-WI-1] 

HR 3039 To impose penalties on state-sponsors of cyberattacks, and for other purposes. Rep. Brooks, Mo [R-AL-5]

The fact that the GPO has already published a copy of HR 3038 indicates that this is on the fast track for consideration. This is another short-term extension (thru December 18^th) of the authorization for various transportation programs. A quick review of the table of contents does not reveal any specific chemical transportation safety or security provisions.

It will be interesting to see what sorts of creative penalties will be proposed by HR 3039 that would not rebound against NSA if imposed by other countries that we are known to have ‘attacked’ by cyber means.