House and Senate Pass Versions of Transportation Appropriations Bill.

On June 15, the U.S. Senate by a unanimous vote of 99-0, passed its version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 Transportation Appropriations bill (S.2720).The House of Representatives passed its bill (HR 4475) back in May. According to today's BNA's Daily Report for Executives, a House-Senate conference

Because of the structure of TEA 21, the Appropriations committees have limited leeway to adjust funding levels and programs. Thus, there are not many differences between the Senate and House appropriations bills.

Probably the major difference is over total funding levels. The House bill would make available $55.23 billion in FY2001, and the Senate bill appropriates $54.7 billion. However, both figures are sizable increases over the $50.02 billion appropriated in FY2000. This increase would come from new revenue -- more than $3 billion -- into the Highway Trust Fund.

The conference will have to resolve a couple other issues:

* S 2720 includes a provision requiring the states to adopt a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content limit in their drunk driving laws or risk losing some highway funding.

* The Senate bill contains language that bars the U.S. Department of Transportation from finalizing in FY2001 the draft rule on "hours of service" limits on commercial vehicle drivers.

* The House bill did not include any funding for the National Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS) program of converting transmitting sites from the old U.S. Air Force ground wave emergency network into an integrated, nationwide network to improve the accuracy of the GPS signal. The Clinton administration had requested $18.7 million to for this effort. The Senate bill would make available the requested amount.