Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- New funding for Nevada highway and other transportation projects is on hold until Congress can settle on the appropriate funding levels to renew or create programs nationwide.
But ongoing projects will receive some type of funding, based on a five-month extension of an existing transportation law the House is expected to pass this afternoon. The law, first passed in 1998, was set to expire next Tuesday.
The annual transportation spending bill provides money for projects approved in a transportation authorization bill Congress takes up every six years.
The extension to be passed today allows several transportation agencies to continue funding federal highway, safety and other transit programs at current levels until Congress can finalize the new multi-year authorization bill for transportation program.
Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev., sit on the House Transportation Committee crafting the bill.
In the new reauthorization, Berkley is pursuing funding for improvements to Interstate 15 between Southern California and Southern Nevada, for the Hoover Dam bypass and the Las Vegas monorail, according to her office.
The extension does not mean those projects will not get funding or be stopped, but that any new money or new programs Berkley or Porter wanted will be put on hold until the new bill is finished.
"It's a temporary setback in getting the larger goals accomplished," said Berkley spokesman David Cherry.
Berkley would have preferred a six-month extension to allow states to have more time to plan projects, but she does support the five-month extension. Her staff is still evaluating how the extension will affect specific Nevada projects, they said this morning.
A Porter aide would not go into specifics on what could be put off since the projects can still be included in the long-term renewal of the law.
The House Transportation Committee is trying to work on a $375 billion bill to fund transportation programs during the next six years. Committee leadership introduce the extension bill earlier this month although they still plan to finalize a long-term plan with another bill.
The extension, which would expire at the end of Feburary 2004, keeps all the policies set in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21 law intact.
If the Congress does pass an extension before the law expires, several federal agencies such as the Federal Highway Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would not be able to run certain programs, which could lead to layoffs or lawsuits.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will take up a similar proposal today, before sending the extension bill for a full Senate vote.
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