At House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearings this week, debate focused on how to keep transportation investment money flowing in an era of declining gas tax revenues. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) recommended that the forthcoming surface transportation authorization bill include pilot programs in every state, similar to the one conducted in Oregon, to determine the viability of a mileage-based tax (VMT). Frustrated, Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) said that he was at the point of impatience with more studies.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood? this week reported to Congressional committees that a good portion of the $48 billion provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for transportation infrastructure is already in the hands of recipients and that work is underway on hundreds of projects.

The House and Senate this week adopted a budget resolution for FY 2010. The $3.56 trillion budget is a non-binding resolution passed only by Congress (not signed by the president) that outlines spending goals for the coming fiscal year. It provides the basis for appropriations targets to be developed soon by Congressional leaders.

In a speech at the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama called for more than 3 percent of GDP to go towards research and development projects.

By 2015, all levels of government will need to more than double their spending on highways and bridges to keep up with increased traffic, freight congestion, aging highways and bridges and population growth, according to the 2009 Bottom Line Report released by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has distributed $1.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds in February and March, said Administrator Lisa Jackson this week.

CALIFORNIA
Legislation

Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood? said that the Obama Administration "considers a comprehensive energy plan that will generate millions of clean energy jobs, reduce our reliance on oil, reduce pollution, create more livable communities and attack climate change, a major priority," and that DOT will be a full partner in all of these efforts. "This is essential," LaHood? said, "because transportation sources are a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and must be part of the solution."

As he continues to prepare the next surface transportation authorization bill, which is expected to be around $450 billion, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), brought together numerous transportation industry groups, including ASCE, on Thursday morning in the Committee hearing room and asked for their support for the House-approved budget resolution, which provides for more transportation funding than its Senate counterpart. The House-passed budget resolution contains a spending baseline of $324 billion for fiscal years 2010 - 2015, while the Senate approved measure contains a baseline of $242 billion.

SCE, along with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical & Petroleum Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA, and the United Engineering Foundation, sponsored the 2009 Engineering Public Policy Symposium held on Capitol Hill April 21. The event was previously known as the Engineering Research and Development Symposium and this year's theme was "Putting Engineering and Science Back into Energy Policy".