Senate passes highway bill
The bill would also dramatically hike fines for odometer fraud to up to $1 million from a current maximum of $100,000 for some fraudulent actions.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a two-year, $109 billion bill to pay for highway construction and boost auto safety regulations.
The bill was approved by a 74-22 vote and now goes to the House.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, praised the bill, saying it “will improve the mobility of people and commerce while reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality.”
Levin said the bill will help state transportation agencies that “need to be able to do long-term planning, and a two-year bill helps that cause, and is surely better than the short-term extensions we have been living under.”
Levin said Michigan will get more than $1.1 billion per year for two years for highways, “slightly more than under the current bill.” Under the transit formulas, Michigan will get $131.3 million per year for two years in mass transit, “a little more than we got last time in formula funds.”
In 1978, Michigan was getting around 75 cents back on every dollar in federal gas taxes paid. That went up to about 80 cents in 1991, 90.5 cents in 1998 and 92 cents in 2005, Levin said. “Unfortunately, there simply isn’t enough money this time around to improve the rate of return for donor states,” Levin said.
The current authorization to collect the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax expires on March 30; that tax currently raises about $100 million a day to repair the nation’s roads and fund other projects.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney praised the bill’s passage.
“We are pleased that Senators have continued the tradition of working across the aisle to pass a bill that keeps Americans at work maintaining our nation’s vital infrastructure and provides states and localities the certainty they need to plan ahead. We are hopeful that the House will move swiftly and in similarly bipartisan fashion to do the same,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, that would have extended tax breaks for many clean energy efforts — including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel — that would have cost about $12 billion. The Senate split 49-49 on the measure, but it needed 60 yes votes to clear a procedural hurdle. “This is about whether we are going to have an American energy policy,” she said.
The Senate also rejected a bid to boost incentives for natural gas vehicles.
Both Levin and Stabenow voted for the overall bill.
Senate leaders agreed last week not to consider an amendment filed by Sen Bob Corker, R-Tenn., that would have taken the remaining funding in the $25 billion auto factory retooling program and used it to fix roads. A fight over some of the funds — known as the Advanced Vehicle Technology Manufacturing program — in September nearly led to a government shutdown.
Democrats beat back attempts to cut funds. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, said in an interview last week that he was disappointed that the Energy Department hasn’t awarded more of the $16 billion in unused loans — and questioned the department’s stance in some loan talks — especially Chrysler Group LLC.
“It does seem like (the Energy Department) has moved the goal posts,” Peters said.
Automakers are urging Congress to reject the provision in the Senate bill that would hike fines to $250 million for failing to recall vehicles properly, up from about $17 million.
Under the bill, aimed at reforming the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the maximum fines for manufacturers that delay recalls would be raised dramatically.
The Senate bill also mandates safety belts on all commercial buses. “Too many lives have been wasted in tragedies that are entirely preventable because of poor bus safety standards. Basic safety standards, such as requiring seat belts, driver training, and strengthening safety inspections, will go a long way in making our roads safer for everyone — not just bus occupants,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas said.
But a House version of a highway bill has no new auto safety provisions. Speaker John Boehner said the House will not consider the five-year, $260 billion proposal to fund highways, but will consider a shorter term bill. Among the controversial provisions in the Republican bill was to end a dedicated funding program for mass transit.
For more than a year, proponents have pushed Congress to strengthen auto safety measures in the wake of sudden acceleration concerns in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles. The provisions, sponsored by Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., would not take effect until at least one year after passage.
The measure would also require automakers to prevent drivers from being able to see “broadcast television, movies, video games and other forms of similar visual entertainment” while driving.
A coalition of groups — including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of Global Automakers, National Association of Manufacturers and American International Automobile Dealers Association — urged the Senate to reject hiking the recall fines.
The fines are rarely used. Toyota paid nearly $50 million to settle three NHTSA complaints that it delayed recalls, while last month BMW AG paid $3 million after NHTSA said a review of 16 recall campaigns in 2010 showed it hadn’t notified the government within the required five days after determining a safety defect.
Automakers have questioned the need for new auto safety measures. They note that in 2010, the number of road deaths fell to its lowest number since 1949 — less than 33,000.
The bill would also dramatically hike fines for odometer fraud to up to $1 million from a current maximum of $100,000 for some fraudulent actions. It would require the study of rental truck crashes.
The auto safety bill would seek to improve the vehicle recall database and website. It would create a hotline for mechanics, dealers and auto workers to call to make anonymous complaints of safety problems with vehicles.
It would also require new regulations on pedal placement, push button ignition and electronic performance issues.