Front of Capitol

Congress is in recess to work in state/district through July 12th.

Last week a House subcommittee approved a draft FY 2011 transportation spending bill. It contained the fewest number of earmarks for WA state in over a decade.

Status reports:

Authorization:
USDOT recently released a draft Strategic Plan that likely foreshadows its authorization intentions.
SAFETEA-LU is extended through December 31, 2010, through the H.I.R.E. act (HR 2847). The legislation restores funding rescissions enacted at the end of FY 2009, and provides the authorized funding level for 2010. The Senate EPW staff are drafting their version of an authorization bill, while the House released its bill last year.

Appropriations: While the House is beginning to work through FY 2011 appropriations bills, there is little optimism that Congress will pass any appropriations bills before October 1st. That would result in a continuing resolution (short-term funding & spending bill), probably through mid to late November.

Senators Murray and Cantwell have submitted their project funding requests to the Appropriations committee for consideration; this list will be pared down before the Senate bill is finalized. A list of project funding requests submitted by WA House members can be found here. Note this does NOT guarantee an earmark. Only some of these requests will make it through the committee process and into the final appropriations bill. It is unclear if a Transportation Appropriations bill can become law before October 1st.

Jobs bill:
Additional jobs-related legislation is expected in the Senate (having already passed the House), but it's unclear when that might happen. It seems unlikely that transportation programs would be included.