This page is designed to keep ATA members and other interested parties informed of ATA’s positions regarding the many highway reauthorization issues currently under consideration on Capitol Hill. We will also provide updates on the progress of the highway reauthorization process.
Please check back frequently as the status of the highway bill is changing constantly.
Updated October 1, 2004
During a campaign stop in Missouri Sept. 7, President Bush called on Congress to either present him with a six-year transportation bill or "go with a one-year extension and work it out later on."
This is the first time the president has acknowledged that passage of a six-year bill in 2004 may not be possible. He added, "I just want to make sure that the highway bill is a fair bill."
Bush said the administration's plan to do a six-year $256 billion bill "was fair, and we're working with the Congress to meet the number."
On Thursday, September 30, Congress extended the current highway program through May 31, 2005.
While Congress is scheduled to return for a lame duck session before November 20, many believe that Members will not be able to complete work on a multi-year reauthorization bill before the bill dies when the 108th Congress adjourns.
Disagreements among Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, and the White House, over funding levels, how much money each state should receive, how much money should be earmarked and whether the earmarks should count toward state apportionments, appear to have doomed the bill for the year.
If the bill is not passed this year as expected, the highway reauthorization process will start over again next year.
It is unclear at this point whether the bills will simply be moved back to conference without substantial change or they will be substantially re-written.