The U.S. Senate passed an appropriations bill on Tuesday that includes $1.9 billion in additional emergency highway money and a waiver that would lift the $100 million cap on funding for rebuilding roads that were heavily damaged in Vermont by Tropical Storm Irene. The bill was approved by the Senate 69 to 30.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wrote the provisions for the “minibus” appropriations bill to help Vermont rebuild the state’s transportation system in the wake of Irene, which heavily damaged sections of hundreds of roads and dozens of bridges. The bill also includes a change in truck weight provisions for Vermont and Maine. The new law would force heavy trucks off smaller state roads that pass through downtown villages and towns and onto federal interstates.
Leahy gave a speech on the floor of the Senate after the bill passed, thanking his colleagues for approving funding that will extend a lifeline to hard-hit Vermont communities in the nick of time – “as winter is not just on the horizon, it is on our doorstep.”
“Week by week, we have made progress, overcoming a series of legislative obstacles,” Leahy said. “One by one, we have been able to turn the lights from red to green in a legislative process that this year has become unduly cumbersome and unresponsive. The progress that has been achieved is a testament to the determination of many in this body who have been willing to set aside ideological imperatives and partisan differences to accomplish the work that the American people, and our constituents, expect from their government.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who supported the legislation, expressed dismay with members of Congress who have tied funding for natural disasters to politically motivated cuts in federal spending. “The name of our country is the United States of America,” Sanders said in a statement. “If that name means anything, it means that when disaster strikes one part of the country, we rally as a nation to support each other.”
The Senate is a different universe from the House, which is dominated by new Tea Party members who are unwilling to compromise.
The House of Representatives’ version of the bill, which was passed on Sept. 8, does not include the cap waiver or the additional $1.9 billion for the emergency highway funds, according to Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. The House bill must go to the full Appropriations Committee next and then to the House floor. The congressman said he is mobilizing members of the bipartisan Irene Coalition to pressure Rep. Eric Cantor, House Majority leader, and members of the Appropriations Committee to include the Leahy provisions in the House version of the legislation. A staffer for Leahy said the bills from the House and Senate will be reconciled in a conference committee, and the senator, who is the second-highest ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, will push for insertion of the waiver and funding language.
Welch said in an interview that the passage of the Senate bill “gives us a fighting chance in the House,” but getting the language in the House bill will take a “concerted effort.” He said he is in “all-hands-on-deck” mode, meeting with staffers, committee chairs and members from states that were previously hit by natural disasters and have a backlog of emergency transportation projects.
“Politically here (in the House), it’s completely different,” Welch said. “We got a foretaste with the battle over offsets, which was a proxy for their vision of budgeting on natural disaster.”
Congress has not yet passed the 12 separate appropriations bills necessary to fund the government for fiscal year 2012, which began on Oct. 1, 2011. Since Sept. 30, the government has operated on a Continuing Resolution, or short-term funding measure that will expire on Nov. 18. Congress is expected to pass another “CR” that will carry the government through the end of the year. Because passage of an omnibus budget bill that would include all 12 agency and department budgets has been politically impossible, the Senate has created a series of “minibus” appropriations bills, or amalgams of three or more appropriations at a time. The transportation bill, for example, was combined with agriculture and commerce budget proposals.
Gov. Peter Shumlin lauded the Senate bill, and said in a statement that it’s “critical that these changes survive conference committee negotiations with the U.S. House.”
“It is great news,” Shumlin said, “that the U.S. Senate today passed the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill that included not only $1.9 billion to replenish the Federal Highway Disaster Relief fund, which will help to rebuild Vermont’s roads and bridges, but also the waivers needed to allow states including Vermont to receive full funding for repair work in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.”
The Shumlin administration released new estimates on Monday for the cost of reconstructing the state’s roadways. The total cost was downgraded from original estimates of $600 million, derived from early surveys of the damage, to between $175 million and $250 million, based on reports submitted to the federal government last week.
Based on those estimates, Vermont is likely to exceed the $100 million federal highway emergency fund cap. If the limit is imposed, the state would be potentially liable for at least $75 million in Irene highway repairs.
The Leahy provisions would also extend the period in which the state is eligible to receive 100 percent reimbursement for emergency repairs beyond 180 days. In addition, the bill would ensure that the state receives 100 percent reimbursement for permanent repairs if the total damage is more than double the state’s annual federal highway funding, according to a press release from the senator’s office.
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