In an apparent nod to Congress on Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century reauthorization, the Bush Administration proposed as part of its FY2006 budget a highway and transit infrastructure spending plan $28 billion higher than one it had championed for 18 months. Released February 7, the budget proposal contains a TEA-21 reauthorization plan guaranteeing $283.9 billion for fiscal years 2004-2009. The funding levels are in line with those that House leaders had targeted last year, but less than what the Senate had envisioned.

This announcement seems to fall in line with President Bush's vow in his state of the union address to keep discretionary domestic spending at below-inflation levels and should test his flexibility on TEA-21 reauthorization at higher funding levels as he seeks to shore up support for his ambitious Social Security reform and tax-cutting agenda.This proposal contains the same funding levels as the proposed compromise six-year plan negotiated last summer in the House conference committee.

On the eve of the White House budget's release, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) and ranking member James Oberstar (D-MN) announced plans to introduce their own $284 billion guaranteed ($299 billion in contract authority) surface transportation reauthorization bill this week. However, the House version of the bill will be for only five years. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) aims to have the TEA-21 reauthorization legislation pass the House before adjourning for the two-week Easter Recess on March 18.

Meanwhile, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) also may move forward with a five-year reauthorization bill at the same funding levels. Inhofe is expected to introduce the bill within the next few weeks, although the timetable for Senate floor consideration is unclear. Last year, the Senate passed a $388 billion surface transportation bill by a vote of 72-21, but it died at the end of the 108th Congress as conference committee negotiations broke down over lack of agreement on a funding level. Shortly before his budget plan was released, President Bush received a letter from 24 Republican senators reiterating their strong commitment to enact a $318 billion reauthorizing TEA-21.