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May 23, 2007
Tolls : Congress working on PPP's; Lege Blacklist; Nothing on the moratorium
Congress has decided they aren't so much for corporate welfare and have started the process of putting the brakes on it. You know, since the states can't stop handing it out.
Congressional Democrats are strongly discouraging states from entering the kind of public-private partnerships that led to the lease of the Indiana Toll Road by a foreign consortium,
Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has warned states that the committee will try to undo any agreements "that do not fully protect the public interest and the integrity of the national system."
The committee said that could happen when Congress rewrites federal transportation programs and policies, which are funded through 2009.
"We have become increasingly concerned with a new type of agreement that was approved for projects in Chicago and Indiana," Oberstar wrote in a May 10 letter to governors, state legislators and state transportation officials. The letter also was signed by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who heads the panel's highways and transit subcommittee.
There will be more on this, but a pro-toll legislative hit list is being generated as a roadmap to the Democratic and Republican primaries next year, as well as the general election in November. I'm getting this from a few different sources and no, I've not been invited to the party. One other bit of detail... funding for some of this may be coming from Washington. I do know that the group is bipartisan, smart and mad as hell.
No gas tax increase which is not all that curious since, as we noted before, the necessity but not the political will exists for it. Either here in Austin or in Washington. The ridiculous thing is that the federal government is going to run out of money to support highway maintenance soon. When you underinvest in infrastructure, you pay for it in economic inefficiency. Sometimes taxes are cheaper and no one is saying the money has to only come from a gas tax. How about making corporations pay for the burden they put on free roads?
Well, 1892 has been vetoed, but nothing it being done on over-riding it. We also know that's exactly what everyone wants. So, what about SB 792, the so-called compromise bill? Well, without Amendment 13, it's useless. So, the conference committee will likely leave it on the bill and Perry will veto it. Which means exactly nothing will change. It's hard to be disappointed when you knew what the outcome was going to be all along. Granted, I was very wrong about the moratorium even being passed. However, the end result is still the same. Nothing is going to happen until we change some of the people sitting in the seats in the House and Senate.
Which means next year is going to be brutal for a lot of people in the Lege. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Posted by mcblogger at May 23, 2007 03:28 PM
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