The US Senate Tuesday approved a transportation budget bill that includes crucial cost waivers included in the bill by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which Governor Shumlin and others consider to be crucial to the repair and rebuilding of roads and bridges damaged by Tropical Storm Irene.
The vote on the bill was 69 to 30.
The bill also includes Leahy’s truck weight provisions for Vermont, to move heavy trucks from smaller state roads, including roads crossing through the downtowns of several Vermont communities.
Following is a summary of the Leahy waiver provisions:
Leahy worked to add $1.9 billion to the depleted Federal Highway Administration emergency fund, upon which Vermont will depend for help in repairing and rebuilding roads washed away or damaged by Irene-related flooding. The emergency highway account today is almost empty. Also vital to Vermont are several cost-waiver provisions Leahy added to the bill, which would save Vermont millions of state tax dollars by allowing Vermont to:
Be reimbursed for more than the current $100 million per-state limit on federal emergency highway repair funds; Vermont’s repair costs are expected to exceed the current cap;
Receive 100 percent reimbursement for permanent repairs if total damage is more than double the state’s annual federal highway funding;
Be reimbursed 100 percent for emergency repairs beyond the current limit of 180 days.
Governor Shumlin has called the Leahy waivers a top priority for Vermont among many disaster-relief steps that are now pending before Congress.
Shumlin said in a statement: ‘It is great news that the US Senate today passed the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill that included not only $1.9 billion to replenish the Federal Highway Disaster Relief fund, which will help to rebuild Vermont’s roads and bridges, but also the waivers needed to allow states including Vermont to receive full funding for repair work in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. I applaud the work of Senator Patrick Leahy, who introduced the waiver amendment that was passed, and Senator Bernie Sanders for their hard and successful work on this legislation. It is critical that these changes survive conference committee negotiations with the US House.
"I am also pleased that the bill would permanently move heavy trucks off secondary roads and onto Interstate highways ‘ another priority for Vermont. That provision, also sponsored by Senator Leahy, is especially important to keep large trucks off smaller roads and bridges that were damaged in recent flooding.’
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) issued the following statement: ‘This is an important step toward providing Vermont the help it needs and deserves to rebuild roads and bridges washed out by Hurricane Irene. I hope the House acts soon so communities in Vermont and other states devastated by the flooding may continue their recovery. The name of our country is the United States of America. If that name means anything, it means that when disaster strikes one part of the country, we rally as a nation to support each other.’
The bill also includes another high priority for Vermont: Leahy’s legislation to permanently move heavy trucks off state secondary roads and onto the state’s Interstate highways. Leahy’s provision will help Vermont businesses and communities struggling due to the large number of state and local roads heavily damaged during the flooding disaster. Leahy’s Vermont provision is paired with a similar change for Maine, authored by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Leahy is number two on the Senate Appropriations Committee and also a senior member of its Transportation Subcommittee, which handled the writing of the bill.
The House is several steps behind the Senate in acting on their counterpart bill. The transportation subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee approved their version of the bill on Sept. 8. It does not include the provisions added by Leahy to the Senate’s bill. The House bill goes next to the full Appropriations Committee and then to the House floor. At some point, once the Senate and House have approved their separate bills, the differences will be ironed out in either a formal or informal House-Senate conference among the appropriators.
WASHINGTON (TUESDAY, Nov. 1, 2011)