On Wednesday, after a relatively short three hour debate, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the highway portion of the Senate's six-year surface transportation bill (S. 1072) by a vote of 17 to 2. The most contentious issues surrounding the bill involve environmental questions and the non-inclusion of a funding formula to guarantee all states a minimum amount of funding each year. These topics will be mostly dealt with on the floor, though some environmental amendments were passed by the committee. Please check back with us for a list of amendments that were approved.

Funding levels in the bill total $221.5 billion, but about $40 billion in additional highway funding to states is expected to be added during floor debate. Chairman Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) maintains that he has a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) to bring the measure to the floor as one of the first items of business when the second session begins in January.

The Senate Banking Committee is now expected to move the transit portion of TEA-21 reauthorization, though, the committee has yet to release a draft bill.

On the House side, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is due to release a draft of the committee's bi-partisan $375 billion reauthorization package in the coming weeks. The House committee will likely markup their bill in January when Congress returns from adjournment.