GOP objection stops extension bill, may force furloughs

Washington, DC – The Senate’s failure to overcome the objections of a single Republican Senator means funding for federal highway, transit and highway safety programs will run out at midnight Sunday night, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson announced today.  The expiration may also force employee layoffs at the Department of Transportation, including the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The current surface transportation authorization act, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), was due to expire last September 30, but has been kept alive by a series of extensions while Congress considers a replacement authorization bill.  The latest extension expires Sunday.

“One Senator, with support from his Republican colleagues, has refused to allow this important extension bill to move out of the Senate and has prevented the House from acting, effectively shutting down a government agency,” said Congresswoman Johnson, a senior Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  “I am disappointed that one Senator’s efforts to prevent people in need from receiving unemployment benefits has had such broad ramifications.”

Employees at the three DOT agencies face layoffs beginning Tuesday unless Congress acts quickly to restore the lost funding.  A different bill pending in the House would extend SAFETEA-LU through the end of 2010.  That bill may come up for a vote as early as Tuesday, and it is possible that the employees would not be furloughed if there is assurance that enactment of a funding bill is imminent.

In the meantime, states may have to suspend work on some road and bridge projects while they wait for their reimbursement payments from the federal government.

###

U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla.