The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on January 9 filed its committee report (S. Rep. 108-222) to accompany "SAFETEA," its version of reauthorization of TEA-21. You will find a copy of the committee report attached for your perusal.

Several key details remain to be worked-out. Foremost among these is the highway funding allocation among the states.

The Senate Finance Committee staff has reportedly reached agreement on a method for financing the $255 billion price tag of the highway programs in the EPW legislation. The Finance Committee plan reportedly contains no bonding and relies solely on spending down trust fund balances, adding revenue currently lost to the trust fund due to the ethanol tax break and some other minor "fixes."

Concerning the transit program, the Finance Committee would apparently leave the current 2.86 cents of the Federal Motor Fuels tax devoted to transit untouched. In the absence of any other provisions for transit funding in the Finance Committee portion of the bill, the Banking Committee would need to included an authorization for General Fund money to bring the transit program to the full $56 billion/6-year authorization contemplated in the Senate. This would mean the transit program would be funded approximately 50% out of the General Fund.

The Senate does not at present have a plan for dealing with the question of budget firewalls. According to Senate staffers "that's up to the Budget Committee." The Budget Committee has announced no plans to deal with that issue.

The latest we are hearing on action in the House and Senate is that the Banking Committee is contemplating a late-January mark-up of the transit title in preparation for Senate floor consideration beginning on February 2. The House T&I Comnittee is looking at an early-February mark-up and floor action in late February if the Ways and Means Committee acts on the tax title of the bill. That is a big if.

We will be forwarding more news as it becomes available.