The bulk of the Democratic-crafted $67 billion stimulus bill is devoted to business tax cuts, tax relief for low-income workers, and extended health and unemployment benefits. The $99 billion stimulus bill approved by the House October 24 on a party-line vote is largely focused on corporate tax cuts (H.R. 3090). The Senate bill was also reported on a 11-10 party-line vote on Thursday.

During markup, the Senate Finance Committee added a provision by Senator Robert G. Torricelli (D-NJ) that would provide the $7 billion in tax-benefitted bonding provisions for Amtrak, and another $2 billion in bonding authority to build a new tunnel under the Hudson River into New York City.

Although Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is said to favor providing an additional $5 billion in obligation authority for highway projects, that provision was not included in the Chairman's mark released on November 7, nor in the final version. However, it appears that an amendment to include $20 billion in additional spending, including highway spending, will be offered when the bill reaches the Senate floor next week.

At the request of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-ND), Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) assembled the spending package which includes $2.5 billion for highway spending, as well as $1.0 billion for airport security and $1.1 billion for transit security. Debate on the stimulus bill is scheduled to begin on November 13.

Senators Show Support

The proposal for $5 billion in additional highway spending has continued to gather support both from members of the Senate and from industry. In a November 9 letter to Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), and Appropriations chairman and ranking member Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Ted Stevens (R-AK), eight Senate Republicans state that "the inclusion of a surface transportation component will play a critical role in reinvigorating the economy. As you well know, spending on roads, bridges and other transportation projects creates jobs and thus stimulates economic activity for both the near- and long-term."

Republican Senators signing onto the letter include Sens. Robert Smith (NH), James Inhofe (OK), John Warner (VA), Michael Crapo (ID), Arlen Specter (PA), Kit Bond (MO), Craig Thomas (WY), and Mike Enzi (WY). More Republican Senators may sign onto the letter.

The letter continues that spending on surface transportation, and specifically highways, already has an "accepted framework in place which would mean that projects could start immediately."

A recent survey by AASHTO of its members found that departments of transportation could obligate for construction within 90 days more than 2,300 projects in 48 states, worth more than $14.36 billion, should additional federal funding become available (AASHTO Journal, October 26).

The letter from the Senate members notes that there is an unobligated balance of $20.5 billion in the Highway Trust Fund to fund the one-time $5 billion increase in spending. It proposes that the funds be distributed under existing formulas established in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. A copy of the letter is attached.

In comments broadcast on CNN last week, Minority Leader Trent Lott indicated that he does not support an infrastructure spending component in an economic-stimulus bill. The Chamber of Commerce, the Associated General Contractors, and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association have strongly endorsed the proposed highway spending increase.

President Said To Be "Open" to Consideration

Meanwhile, a top White House adviser this week told a gathering of transportation industry leaders that President Bush "is open to considering" the proposal for $5 billion in additional highway spending as a means of stimulating the economy.

The comment was made by Karl Rove in a question-and-answer period following a presentation at a conference on highway and transit reauthorization, held by the American Highway Users Alliance on Wednesday. Rove said the administration does view highway investment as an effective means of stimulating the economy.

The President angered members of the Senate this week when he threatened to veto additional emergency spending proposals for homeland security. Nonetheless, Republicans who had earlier favored making additional revenue available as a contingency fund fell in line behind the President's position.

Administration officials maintain that the money that was already approved is sufficient to deal with security needs, and that additional spending would set the stage for a return to long-term deficit spending. But proponents of the security spending believe the funding will be needed, and that the original $40 billion was just a down payment. They argue that the funding should be approved to be available as the President determines it is needed, rather than delaying action until another supplemental appropriations is requested next year.

In talks that opened Wednesday, the conferees began working out differences between the House-passed bill, H.R. 3150, and the Senate measure, S. 1447. A meeting of conferees has been set for November 13, and staff of the eight House members and 13 senators on the panel will be working throughout the weekend to hammer out a compromise on the federalization and other issues.

Regarding making screeners federal employees, the CQ Daily Monitor reports that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card floated a compromise position on Thursday. The proposal would reportedly allow for federal employees to be deployed for screening at smaller airports, while permitting private contractors to work at larger airports.

``Once we have that major issue worked out we'll have a bill,'' said Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC).

The bills are a response to concerns that the current system permits such failures as last weekend's Chicago O'Hare Airport incident in which a man carrying seven knives, a stun gun and tear gas made it past airport screeners.

Similarities in the two bills include measures to fortify cockpits, increase the number of air marshals on flights and moves toward screening of checked-in baggage. However, the Senate version would put the Justice Department in control of aviation security, arguing it is a law- enforcement function, while the House would create a new oversight agency in the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The ruling potentially has nationwide impact on projects including highways, bridges, dams, and airports, according to the Washington Post. Project labor agreements generally require all contractors working on a covered project to offer their workers union-level pay and working conditions, in exchange for an agreement by the employees not to strike during the construction period. Maryland had planned to use such a pact on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge reconstruction, a $2.4 billion project it is jointly executing with Virginia and the District of Columbia to clear up a serious bottleneck on Interstate 95.

In February, shortly after his arrival in office, President Bush issued an executive order effectively banning the use of project labor agreements on projects that incorporated federal funds. Several states immediately voiced concern, in part because they have used the pacts to buy a measure of assurance against work stoppages and bring projects in on time. Several such pacts were pending on major projects at the time of the order, and it did not "grandfather in" existing agreements.

The ruling, by U. S. District Judge G. Sullivan, came in a lawsuit filed against the Bush order by the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, which sought in its May filing to protect its agreement on the Wilson Bridge and its stake in dozens of other projects. The labor organization represents more than a million workers in the United States and Canada.

Sullivan found that the Bush order unconstitutionally "removed an economic weapon from labor organizations, federal agencies, and the recipients of federal funding." It further violated the National Labor Relations Act, Judge Sullivan ruled.

A Justice Department spokesman, Charles Miller, told the Post that officials planned to review the court's opinion before deciding whether an appeal would be undertaken.

The State of Maryland - along with the states of New York and Massachusetts - had filed a brief backing the union position. Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening said the Wilson Bridge pact would guarantee a constant supply of skilled labor and protect against job actions that could interfere with timely completion of the new span. Pre-construction piledriving in the Potomac River began in July; current plans are for the first six-lane span of the 12-lane double bridge to be completed in 2004, with the second to follow in 2007.

The current Wilson Bridge is federally owned, but reconstruction-related duties have been divided by the states whose residents most heavily use it. Maryland, which owns the Potomac River, is in charge of construction, while Virginia is slated to deal with its own related highways and Beltway interchanges. Virginia Gov. James Gilmore III, a Republican, voiced opposition to project labor agreements earlier in the year; however, he is slated to be succeeded by a Democrat, Mark Warner, the victor in last week's gubernatorial election.

"President Bush is committed to making America's transportation system as safe as possible," Peters said. "These project winners provide excellent examples of the continuous progress our nation is making in improving safety on our roads."

Winners in the bienniel competition include:

• Virginia, for its optimal continuous shoulder rumble strips;
• Pennsylvania, for pavement markings and signs aimed at curbing tailgating and for its add-on safety enhancements beyond current standards for target groups;
• Delaware, for centerline rumble strips;
• Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska for their multi-state Smark Work Zone Deployment Initiative, which deployed and evaluated 26 technologies to improve work zone safety;
• Alabama, for its fast-tracking of $`9 million for priority safety projects;
• Kentucky, for its state police renovation of accident data analysis;
• Washington, for its analysis of need for turn lanes and prioritization at high-benefit intersections;
• New Jersey, for its web-based work zone safety rules training system.

Nonetheless, law-enforcement agencies were advised to remain on high alert against possible terrorist activities, and California Gov. Gray Davis - who last week made public the bridge alerts - said he will continue to "err on the side of caution" and keep National Guard and California Highway Patrol staff on several California bridges "for the foreseeable future."

"My No. 1 job is to keep Californians safe," he said. "I believe I took the correct steps."

The FBI this week described as uncorroborated the intelligence it had received, suggesting terrorists might strike suspension bridges on the West Coast between last Friday and Wednesday. A warning was issued privately to law-enforcement officials in eight states regarding that evidence; further, the information went out to several companies in the region.

AP early this week also reported on work by state DOTs, and AASHTO, to attempt to prevent and respond to possible terrorist actions against transportation infrastructure. AASHTO has named a special task force, headed by Missouri Department of Transportation Secretary Henry Hungerbeeler, to assist members in assessing the scope of planning and in sharing information about steps other states already have taken.

"Welcome to the capital of the world," New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told arriving passengers. "Spend a lot of money while you're here."

The supersonic transport had not been in the air since a crash in France - the first ever involving a Concorde - killed 113 people. The planes have been retrofitted since to prevent similar accidents. It was believed the crashed Concorde suffered a punctured fuel tank as a result of debris flying off a ruptured tire; the retrofits have placed a bulletproof kevlar liner inside the fuel tanks and placed specially made new tires by Michelin on the planes.

"One of the icons of the civil aviation industry is returning," said Chris Yates, aviation safety editor at Jane's Transport in London. "It's the shot in the arm that the industry needs at the moment."

Though terrorist misuse of U.S.-based commercial jets as flying bombs in Sept. 11 attacks have curbed air travel worldwide, British Airways says it already has sold 7,000 seats on its Concordes. The ultra-high-speed jet crosses the Atlantic Ocean in about half the time an ordinary jet would take. Roundtrip tickets cost between $7,300 and $10,000, depending on destinations.

The test will involve about 120 drivers (ages 18 to 70) who will use 10 equipped cars for several weeks each in the Detroit area of southeastern Michigan. The test will last three years, with on-road testing starting in 2003.

U.S. DOT will assess the maturity of system technology to support its commercial deployment, predict driver acceptance, and evaluate the safety implications of deployment. The technology warns of an imminent collision, but the driver retains control of the vehicle. The system operates on straight and curved paved roads as well as day or night and in light rain.

Mark Warner - who built up a fortune of $200 million in the cellular telephone industry - defeated GOP challenger Mark Earley to become Virginia's first Democratic governor in nearly a decade. However, Warner will have to work with a Virginia House of Delegates that has even more Republicans than it did before, as the GOP majority picked up a dozen more seats there.

Warner won by 52 percent to Earley's 47 percent, according to unofficial returns. The victor will succeed GOP Gov. James Gilmore III in January, but faces a unique one-term limit.

Former Virginia Secretary of Transportation John Milliken has been named to head Warner's transition team.

In New Jersey, voters elected Jim McGreevey to the governorship and gave his fellow Democrats control of the Assembly and at least a tie in the State Senate, AP reported. McGreevey, who had narrowly lost to former Gov. Christie Whitman four years ago, defeated her GOP successor Bret Schundler; Whitman has joined the Bush Administration as head of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made the ruling on Wednesday, vacating an award the oil company Exxon was ordered to pay in 1994 by an Anchorage jury. The funds were to go to 33,000 commercial fisherman, Alaskan natives, property owners and other parties damaged by the spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The appeals court found the $5.3 billion award excessive in view of recent Supreme Court rulings affecting damage awards. Under those rulings, Exxon Mobil might be ordered to pay up to an estimated $1.6 billion.

A company spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil had no immediate comment. The oil firm had made oral arguments seeking the damage reduction in 1999.

But Sue Aspelund, executive director of the Cordova District Fishermen United, a group representing Prince William Sound fishermen, said there was "shock and surprise" at the ruling. "There's some disappointment around here," she said. "People's lives have been on hold a long time, since 1989, trying to get this thing resolved."

Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld, who wrote the unanimous decision, pointed out that Exxon mitigated the reprehensibility of its conduct by spending more than $2 billion to remove the oil from the water and adjacent shores and from some individual birds and wildlife coated by oil. The oil company also began settling with "property owners, fishermen and others whose economic interests were harmed by the spill," Kleinfeld noted, including spending $300 million on voluntary settlements "prior to any judgments being entered against it."

The proposed monorail approach was estimated to cost as much as $4 billion, transportation experts told the Denver Post, and highway expansion to curb congestion along that corridor might carry a similar price tag, according to Miller Hudson, who headed the petition initiative that placed the monorail approach on the state ballot. He said any attempt to revive the approach will await results of a transportation study of the I-70 mountain corridor.

A soon-to-be-released environmental impact analysis may determine whether a $1.4 billion, 900-mile railroad line meant to carry low-sulfur Wyoming coal to loading zones on the Mississippi river will become reality, the Associated Press reports.

The Powder River Basin project proposed by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. would ultimately move Wyoming's relatively clean-burning coal to power plants in the Midwest and Northeast looking for ways to reduce their air pollution. But opponents say the line would speed noisy, mile-long trains through small towns, spoil grasslands and require improvements local taxpayers would have to finance.

DM&E, a 15-year-old assemblage of several failed railroads, currently hauls grain, clay and wood chips on aging tracks. The railroad has spent $40 million in the past four years mapping potential routes, lobbying local residents and politicians, and filing thousands of pages of commentary to the Surface Transportation Board, which ultimately will decide whether the project can proceed.

The STB has termed the project the "largest and most challenging construction proposal" that ever has landed on its desk.

Through the cooperative efforts of the Evaro to Polson Project Management Team members, state and federal transportation decision-makers attained an understanding of the social and cultural impacts of the 58.1-mile highway reconstruction project on the cultural life of the Salish-Kootenai Indian Nation. Tribal leaders also learned of the importance of a safe and efficient transportation facility.

The project is a direct result of the team members' willingness to view the project implications from perspectives other than their own, and brought an end to nearly 20 years of environmental process.

The cooperative agreement establishes a strong "sense of place" on the tribal lands. Many design elements will foster this sense, including the avoidance of historic properties, access management throughout, curvilinear design to avoid road cuts, use of native materials, significant avoidance of wetlands and prime wildlife habitat, signature signing in the three languages of the area, numerous wildlife crossings, and roadway designs to highlight the scenic beauty and direct travelers to important tribal features of the landscape. The design concepts within the Indian Nation boundary will demonstrate respect for the beauty of the location and the culture of the Salish-Kootenai.