REAUTHORIZATION! It Happened “FAST”

When the wheels begin to turn, sometimes they turn quickly, or in this case “FAST”. 

That’s the name of America’s newest transportation authorization, meaning “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation” (FAST).
Readers will note that Congressman Matt Salmon voted NO
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A previous post here concentrated on two important items to build supply-chain logistics potentially with  $32.2 billion dollar impact in Arizona exports.
Funding was not included [see that article for details]
The FAST act, approved by Congress (*see how Arizona’s delegation voted below) and signed by President Obama on Friday, December 4, 2015, is a five year authorization.

According to a hot topic report from the Arizona Transit Association here are some excerpts from the terms of the authorization, starting with what Obama had to say: “This bill is not perfect, but it is a commonsense compromise, and an important first step in the right direction,” Obama said in a statement ahead of the bill signing on Friday.  “I look forward to signing this bill right away, so that we can put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and transit systems, reauthorize the Export-Import Bank that helps our companies compete around the world, and give local and state governments and employers the certainty they need to invest and hire for the long term,” he continued. “As we applaud the kind of bipartisan compromise that was reached (last night), we should also recognize that we still have work to do.”
That’s enough of a history.  More importantly, what are the terms and conditions of this new authorization?  Has it emerged without controversy, competition, and compromise?  Knowing that the authorization primarily addresses half of the country’s four major transportation elements (highways and transit), this authorization was hoped to address two important components:  infrastructure maintenance and growth, and sustainable yet growing funding needs.  [Readers please go to report for more details]
Other items to note:
• A new pilot program is added, codified at Section 3005(b) of the FAST Act, for “Expedited project delivery for capital investment grants.” This seems to be the continuation of a pilot program previously authorized at Section 20008(b) of MAP-21.
• the USDOT believes it’s not enough to address transportation needs.  Secretary Foxx says the bill still falls far short of the $400 billion over six years that is necessary to keep traffic congestion from worsening, and it puts off the difficult decision of how to pay for transportation programs in a way that’s sustainable for the long term;
• there’s already debate about some of the details, and how they will be interpreted as part of the 1300 page bill. See more about the bill at:  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr22/summary
• it does not raise gas taxes to help pay for transportation projects where buying power (inflation) and better fuel economy has reduced the value of the current tax.
• there remains question on whether the $70B additional revenue will materialize, and with each annual appropriation, that will become clear.

*The House vote was 359 – 65.  The Senate vote was 83—16. 

Here’s how Arizona’s Delegation voted:

In the House:
• Kirkpatrick (D) - Y
• McSally (R) - Y
• Grijalva (D) - Y
• Gosar (R) - N
• Salmon (R) - N
• Schwikert (R) - N
• Gallego (D) - Y
• Franks (R) - N
• Sinema (D) - Y
In the Senate:
• McCain (R) - Y
• Flake (R) - N