URGENT - Federal Highway Trust Fund out of money!!

[Alps]

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20100301highway_funding_stalls_in_congress/ and many other sources - No projects will get any Federal contributions until the act is extended or reauthorized.  No projects with Federal oversight can continue.

[agentsteel53]

I'm sure they'll just legislate some new money into being.  works great for every other government program. 

[Alps]

Visit http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to find your local senators and representative, and call them tomorrow during the day to let them know how important this is.  The Trust Fund is used for projects that keep America employed and keep our infrastructure barely afloat.  With the ASCE infrastructure grade holding at a C- and worse in many categories, it's critical that we don't get even further behind schedule in repairing and replacing.  So we need the fund to be replenished ASAP.  Show your support as a concerned citizen, industry member, or in any capacity you feel comfortable!

[mightyace]

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20100301highway_funding_stalls_in_congress/ and many other sources - No projects will get any Federal contributions until the act is extended or reauthorized.  No projects with Federal oversight can continue.

Well I think they can continue as...

Under federal guidelines, the FHWA reimburses states for funds they commit to undertake highway-related infrastructure projects. However, the federal government cannot act without reauthorization of the law that provides the funds for reimbursements. The funding affected by yesterday's actions would be monies set to be disbursed through March 5.

Technically, the project could continue, just no reimbursement would be coming, but as 80-90% of the money for these projects is Federal.  The practical effect is what you said.

I'm sure they'll just legislate some new money into being.  works great for every other government program. 

Certainly, the key point will be how much pork will need to be fed to reluctant members of congress to get enough votes through.

[hbelkins]

I am sad to say that the holdup is being caused by the junior senator from my home state. Even though I am of the same party as Jim Bunning, I haven't had much use for him for several years. On behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I apologize for his petulant act. If I see any of you this spring or summer, remind me to tell you about Bunning. I won't junk up this board with political stuff.

[agentsteel53]

Trust

that somehow is not a word that I would use in conjunction with our latest and greatest disease administration.

from http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml:

* President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden  — Send questions, comments, concerns, or well-wishes to the President or his staff.

well-wishes?  where do I go to tell them to go stuff themselves?

[US71]

well-wishes?  where do I go to tell them to go stuff themselves?

Can we keep politics off of here, please?

[agentsteel53]

Can we keep politics off of here, please?

well, if someone posts a link to a place where I am solely allowed to praise an administration with whom I have great disagreement ... I will certainly note my disagreements!  

okay, the link allows me to voice my "concerns"... but as for a general feeling of ill will, I certainly am not allowed to share that.  Just well-wishes, of which I have none towards our current set of elected leaders.  I in no way wish any physical harm upon them, I just simply wish that they are promptly impeached and removed from office.  

bear in mind, I was born in 1981.  I have, to this day, yet to experience a government that is deserving of anything more than my contempt.  Apparently there have been times in our history when our government was worthy of praise, and more than an inconvenience to be tolerated while the people hoped for it to be eradicated.  Apparently.  I have never experienced such a perception myself.  To me, the government has been similar to an infestation of termites, except more nefarious and difficult to remove.  You can remove termites with one phone call... good luck doing that with Congress and the executive branch.

I've had leaders on both sides, Republican and Democrat, utterly fail me, and thus I have grown up believing that the role of government is to promote the well-being of the uber-rich industrialists, while defecating massively upon the common schmuck.  So, the next time Uncle Sam does anything for me will be the first ... and I had better be on the lookout for when he inevitably takes it away.  

you can imagine what kind of reaction I had when I first studied the actual 1787 US Constitution in 7th grade.  My reaction got me suspended from school for three days!  

it slightly tempered my love for authority, shall we say.

[Alps]

BTW, I got the response elsewhere "It's just the one senator."  Well, no, it's everyone's problem, because if he's going to slow it down this way, then everyone needs to get together and find another solution.  Letting this rot while pointing fingers is typical, but hurts America every day.

[agentsteel53]

it's never just one senator.  It is at least 40 for them to filibuster.

[hbelkins]

it's never just one senator.  It is at least 40 for them to filibuster.

I don't understand the dynamics of this, but for some reason the way they were trying to pass it, all it takes is one. Needless to say this is a hot topic back here in the Bluegrass. Even Mitch McConnell disapproves of what Bunning's doing.

(I posted a summary of the situation over on MTR if anyone wants to go over there and read it.)

[Scott5114]

I haven't found something about this bill in particular, but if I'm inferring things correctly, then this is not a filibuster, but a "hold". Any single senator can place a hold on a bill preventing it from reaching the Senate floor (as opposed to the 40-senator filibuster/cloture scenario which we are already familiar with, which occurs after the bill has been put up for debate). From what I've heard this isn't the only bill that Bunning is doing this to–he's not up for re-election this year, so he's pretty much decided to try to piss as many people off as possible. He also recently flipped off a reporter in the Capitol halls.

[J N Winkler]

Wreckage from this stunt is starting to appear.  MoDOT was scheduled to have a letting last Friday (February 26) but sent a notice to registered vendors a few days beforehand saying that the letting would be cancelled unless continuation funding was voted for by noon on February 25.  This deadline was missed.  MoDOT then sent another notice saying that all of the projects scheduled for February would be rolled forward to March and let at the same time as the March projects.  MoDOT has not advertised any projects for March; normally the projects for the next month's letting become available by the date of the previous letting.

Wyoming also makes plans for a given month's letting available by the date of the previous month's letting, but so far WyDOT hasn't advertised any projects for a letting in March or later.

[vdeane]

Why can't they take money from elsewhere?  It works for everything else the federal government spends money on.  What's so different about roads that they have to get the money from the same place they say the money comes from?

[Scott5114]

The thread title is misleading; the money is there (for whatever passes as "existence" in government terms, at least, lack of money doesn't stop government spending), it's just the government is no longer authorized to hand it out. The law which says "The federal government can give money to states to help with highways" has expired. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, as it's been renewed several times before, but Bunning is disrupting the senate to prove a point (what point that is, nobody really seems sure of). Pretty much what happened is the highway bill had the unfortunate timing to expire at the same time Bunning decided to get his panties in a bunch about something or other.

[froggie]

To further elaborate, it isn't the 30-day transportation reauthorization per se that is the issue either.  Bunning is against the bill because it also includes other items, namely unemployment benefits and Medicare reimbursement, that he opposes the "funding mechanism" for.

[Scott5114]

See, I'd heard about that as well (and it is the unemployment benefits and such the media is focusing on) but I wasn't aware that was part of the same bill.

[Scott5114]

UPDATE: Bunning appears to have folded. http://www.rollcall.com/news/43750-1.html

[US71]

UPDATE: Bunning appears to have folded. http://www.rollcall.com/news/43750-1.html

One month, then we get to do it all again.    

[Revive 755]

Reid has also agreed to give Bunning two votes on amendments to a larger, one-year extension bill that is currently under consideration in the Senate.

Is there another interpretation, or is one senator getting his vote counted twice?  Something really screwy here.

[agentsteel53]

Is there another interpretation, or is one senator getting his vote counted twice?  Something really screwy here.

I think it means the entire senate would do two informal votes.  Vote once, see where everyone stands, do some debating, then have another vote.

[Scott5114]

I believe it means Reid would authorize that two amendments that Bunning supports would be scheduled for votes.

[US71]

I think it means the entire senate would do two informal votes.  Vote once, see where everyone stands, do some debating, then have another vote.

Wouldn't it be easier just to dope slap Bunning?

[SSOWorld]

nothing like a good one-man filabuster.  The cure?  Senate stays up until a vote is passed (no one to shift with )

[mightyace]

nothing like a good one-man filabuster.  The cure?  Senate stays up until a vote is passed (no one to shift with )

I wish I knew whether this would work or not.  But, then again, I never heard of a senator putting a bill "on hold" before this thread was started.

I know the basis for filibustering is in the Constitution, but somehow, I don't think that this "on hold" stuff it.  i.e. It's a Senate rule.