As Talk of Second Stimulus Percolates, Pelosi Touts Authorization as “Great Jobs Bill”
By LUCAS WALL
AASHTO Journal
July 10, 2009
Nearly five months after Congress enacted the American and Recovery and Reinvestment Act to pump $787 billion into the nation’s sagging economy, the steadily increasing unemployment rate has sparked discussion in Washington of the need for a second stimulus bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday that a $500 billion surface transportation authorization measure could be just the right remedy, but House Ways and Means Committee members and key senators have shown little desire to move forward with ideas to raise revenue to pay for the bill.
This week’s developments surrounding a second stimulus measure and the authorization bill, which was approved without a revenue title by the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee last month, occur as the federal Highway Trust Fund heads toward insolvency as soon as late August. Congress has only three weeks to fix the problem before the House takes a five-week-long summer recess scheduled to begin Aug. 1. (The Senate’s recess is slated to begin Aug. 8 and also last through Labor Day.)
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD, on Tuesday opened the door to a second economic stimulus bill for this year following last Friday’s U.S. Labor Department report that the nation’s unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent after employers slashed another 433,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate is currently at its the highest point in 26 years as the 1½-year-old recession continues.
Hoyer made no specific proposals for an additional stimulus but said, “We need to be open to whether we need additional action. We need to continue to focus on bringing the economy back to a place where we’re not losing jobs.”
The Obama administration is currently focused on ensuring that money from the existing recovery act is spent appropriately; it has not broached the topic of second stimulus. Vice President Joe Biden said in a Sunday interview with ABC News that it’s premature to consider a second stimulus, noting the $787 billion recovery act was programmed to spend out over 18 months and needs more time to show results in terms of reduced unemployment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, echoed Biden’s remarks Tuesday, saying “there is no showing to me that another stimulus is needed.”
Speaker Supports Moving Forward with Transportation Authorization
At a news conference Thursday, a reporter asked Pelosi, D-CA, to comment on the back and forth this week among various leaders about whether a second stimulus bill is necessary. The speaker responded that she is committed to ensuring the first recovery bill is successful and it has not been given all the time needed to make a dent in the unemployment numbers. Many recovery dollars are slated to be spent during the current quarter, she noted. Pelosi continued that she is open to recommendations from the administration for additional job-creating measures.
Pelosi then brought up the six-year surface transportation authorization bill under consideration by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, suggesting it could serve as the year’s second major job-generating piece of legislation.
“I am a proponent for bringing up the full transportation bill, which is a great jobs bill,” Pelosi said, but noting it will be difficult for Congress to come up with the money for any kind of second stimulus bill given the major items it is already considering in pending legislation. “Right now I think that we have big issues with healthcare and how we fund that, and if we do go someplace, I’d like to see us do the transportation bill.”
Just hours after Pelosi’s news conference, the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee issued a notice that it will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 16, on the topic of “The Importance of a Long-Term Surface Transportation Authorization in Sustaining Economic Recovery.” House T&I Committee spokesman Jim Berard said Thursday evening that the speaker’s comments and subsequent hearing announcement “are not directly connected.” Berard said further information about the hearing, including a witness list, is not yet available.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, chairman of the National Governors Association, pitched the idea of using infrastructure spending as a second stimulus this year during a Wednesday appearance at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on spending of the existing recovery act.
“I’d like to see more infrastructure done, so I’d like to see a second stimulus focusing on infrastructure,” Rendell testified, noting infrastructure spending not only creates jobs immediately but provides future generations with long-term benefits.
Money Committees Show No Signs of Finding Revenue for Transportation Bill
Though the House speaker indicated her support for moving forward with the six-year, $500 billion authorization measure pushed by House T&I Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, the committee responsible for funding the bill is focused on addressing other spending priorities this year.
“Oberstar’s ambitious plan to finish at new highway bill before the end of the year is running into a roadblock of his party’s own making: the massive overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system,” The Hill reported Wednesday. Since the House Ways and Means Committee is swamped trying to come up with the money needed to expand healthcare, “the panel doesn’t have the time to work on tax measures that would pay for the $500 billion highway bill.”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-NY, told the newspaper: “Everything I am doing is health, health, health.” Rangel said he is not yet prepared to discuss his ideas for funding the transportation authorization bill but added that “it is very important and it’s on the front burner.”
Other committee members interviewed by the newspaper were less optimistic, casting doubt on whether the committee could find the time for another large undertaking before current transportation spending authority expires Sept. 30. Many committee members adamantly oppose increasing federal fuel taxes to generate the estimated $140 billion in additional revenue needed to fully fund the Oberstar proposal, leaving a need to come up with alternative sources to produce the money to pay for a massive expansion of federal transportation programs. The current authorization measure known as “SAFETEA-LU” is funded at $286 billion, so Oberstar’s bill would nearly double the existing spending authority over the next six years.
The surface transportation authorization bill can’t move to the House floor until the Ways and Means Committee adds a revenue title to the policy language and funding allocations adopted by the T&I Committee.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, is leading the charge on the Ways and Means Committee to find new revenue sources to pay for transportation. His latest proposal would raise $600 billion for the legislation by eliminating the gas tax and instead imposing carbon taxes and road-use fees, among other items.
But even members of his own party have shown little interest in moving ahead with Blumenauer’s proposal.
“It’s fair to say the priority of the House Ways and Means Committee is healthcare reform, not the highway bill,” said Rep. Artur Davis, D-AL. “I would rather see a highway bill put off than have a tax increase on my constituents who are unemployed and struggling to make ends meet.”
Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee have expressed strong opposition to increasing fuel taxes, but have yet to publicly propose any alternatives.
“We are waiting to see what the majority comes up with, but a gas tax is a bad idea,” said Sage Eastman, press secretary for Rep. Dave Camp, R-MI, the committee’s ranking minority member. “We shouldn’t make the drive to work more expensive for those lucky enough to have a job in this economy.”
A member of the House Democratic leadership recently told a private meeting of transportation stakeholders that they must convince members of both parties of the need to raise taxes to support greater investment in mobility projects. CongressDaily quoted sources who participated in the meeting as saying that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, a Ways and Means Committee member, said political reality dictates “support is going to have to come from both the left and the right.”
On the Senate side, key committee leaders have not shown any desire to quickly move ahead with a transportation authorization bill. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-CA, has said she supports the Obama administration’s request to delay authorization 1½ years while immediately providing $20 billion in extra funding to prevent the Highway Trust Fund from running short of cash to reimburse states for obligated projects. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-MT, is also backing the administration’s request for delay.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has stressed the need for Congress to provide interim funding for the Highway Trust Fund while also forging ahead with a full six-year authorization measure this year. AASHTO’s authorization campaign website is available at AreWeThereYet.transportation.org, and the association’s authorization policy positions are available at tinyurl.com/AASHTO-authorization.
Labor Unions to Campaign for Second Stimulus This Fall
As debate swirls around Capitol Hill over what to do about the Highway Trust Fund and the long-term transportation authorization bill, a group of unions and interest groups announced Monday they will soon start pressing lawmakers for another jobs bill. The labor organizations, including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, said the first recovery act isn’t big enough and doesn’t include enough government spending, The Hill reported.
Campaigning for another recovery package will start in September after Congress returns from its summer break, according to the labor unions and their liberal advocacy group supporters. Any new stimulus must include more infrastructure spending, unemployment insurance, and relief for state and local governments, said Thea Lee, policy director for the AFL-CIO.
Lucas Wall can be reached at lwall@aashto.org or 202-624-3626
