Jim Riley, Director, Government Affairs
John Boling, Director, Government Affairs
Joe Colaneri, Director, Government Affairs
Patricia Maeder, Division Coordinator
www.nssga.org
Action Center
e-Digest
CONGRESS PASSES 7th TEA 21 EXTENSION; HOUSE CONFEREES NAMED
The House of Representatives on May 25 adjourned for the Memorial Day recess May 26, but not before passing a clean one-month extension of TEA 21, appointing conferees on the highway bill, and defeating a motion offered by the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to instruct conferees. The one-month extension will keep highway program funding continuing through June 30. The Senate passed the same extension by voice vote. The President is expected to sign the seventh extension of TEA 21 prior to the expiration of the current extension on May 31, 2005.Prior to naming the House conferees, a motion to instruct the conferees was offered by Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) to support a level of funding equal to the level of funding provided in the House-passed bill and to insist on the additional resources necessary to increase the return to the states to not less than 92 percent while ensuring that each State receives no less than it is provided under H.R. 3. Republicans argued that the motion would tie the hands of House conferees and that it was premature to take such a position. Rep. John Mica (R-FL) pointed out to his colleagues that it is possible that they can do better than 92 percent in the negotiations. The motion failed on a vote of 189-223.
The Senate is working on a slate of conferees, but has not yet named them.
A listing of House conferees on the highway reauthorization follows. Previously, House Transportation and Infrastucture Chairman Don Young was named to chair the conference.
Don Young (R-Alaska)
James Oberstar(D-Minn.)
Tom Petri (R-Wis.)
Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.)
Howard Coble (R-N.C.)
John J. Duncan (R-Tenn.)
John L. Mica (R-Fla.)
Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.)
Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.)
Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio)
Richard Baker (R-La.)
Gary Miller (R-Calif.)
Robin Hayes (R-N.C.)
Robert Simmons (R-Conn.)
Henry Brown (R-S.C.)
Sam Graves (R-Mo.)
Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
John Boozman (R-Ark.)
Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.)
Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.)
Jerry Costello (D-Ill.)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.)
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
Corrine Brown (D-Fla.)
Bob Filner (D-Calif.)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas)
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Texas)
Gene Taylor (D-Miss.)
Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)
Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.)
Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
Jim Nussle (R-Iowa)
John Spratt (D-S.C.)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
Bill Thomas (R-Calif.)
Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)
Jim McCrery (R-La.)
Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.)
Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.)
Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
David Dreier (R-Calif.)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)
Richard Pombo (R-Calif.)
Greg Walden (R-Ore.)
Ron Kind (D-Wis.)
James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)
John Conyers (D-Mich.)
Lamar Smith (R-Texas.)
Tom Davis (R-Va.)
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
Todd Platts (R-Pa.)
Joe Barton (R-Texas)
John Dingell (D-Mich.)
Charles Pickering (R-Miss.)
John Kline (R-Minn.)
Ric Keller (R-Fla.)
John Barrow (D-Ga.)
Christopher Cox (R-Calif.)
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)
Dan Lungren (R-Calif.)