Update from Washington, D.C. 06/24/2011
Debt negotiations continued to dominate the headlines on Capitol
Hill as the August 2 deadline to increase the debt limit
overshadowed other legislative business. Absent a deal, the U.S.
government risks defaulting on its borrowing obligations.
In late-breaking developments, yesterday, senior Republican
negotiators announced that they were withdrawing from talks with
Vice President Joe Biden in light of the fact that negotiations
have failed to resolve an impasse over taxes. Biden and
congressional negotiators had hoped to have an agreement in place
by early July, leaving time for an accord to be turned into
legislative language, sold to members of both parties, and moved
through the House and Senate. Now, the fate of such an agreement
will fall directly to President Obama and GOP congressional
leaders.
With the previous discussions yielding little or no progress, top
Senate Republicans have suggested that a stopgap debt increase
measure is increasingly likely. House leaders, on the other hand,
have made clear that a short-term plan would be unacceptable.
Perhaps further complicating the higher-level negotiations that
will now occur are fresh demands that have been made by both
parties. Top Senate Democrats want any deal to include additional
stimulus dollars to help boost economic recovery efforts, while
Republicans are pushing for even deeper spending cuts. Some
Republicans have even pledged to vote against a package that does
not include caps on spending and an amendment to the Constitution
that would require Congress to balance the budget.
The stakes also have been raised as a result of the Congressional
Budget Office’s (CBO) recent warning that the nation’s long-term
fiscal health could be in jeopardy if the country’s debt –
currently at $14.3 trillion – continues its unrestrained growth.
Without a plan to reduce the debt, CBO said that taxes would have
to be raised and government services cut to pay for the spiraling
costs of interest on the debt. The agency also indicated that the
growing cost of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is a key
factor in the projected debt increase, as the baby boom
generation retires and health care costs continue to rise faster
than inflation.
In any case, any potential deal that may be reached between
President Obama and GOP leaders will need bipartisan support
given the fact that some House Republicans appear unwilling to
vote for a debt limit increase under any circumstances and some
Democrats are likely to abandon any proposal that dramatically
cuts domestic spending.
Transportation
At press time, Congressman Gary Miller (R-CA) was expected to
introduce legislation that would create a new pilot demonstration
program whereby States and local governments could carry out the
responsibilities of the Secretary of Transportation with respect
to highway projects through implementation of State environmental
laws instead of Federal laws. Under the legislation (bill number
not yet available), the Secretary would need to determine that a
State’s laws are substantially equivalent to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and that participation in the
program would not diminish protection of the
environment.
CSAC has worked very closely with Congressman Miller on the
development of his environmental streamlining bill and has
endorsed the legislation. The bill is bipartisan and has a number
of original cosponsors from the California congressional
delegation.
Allowing States and local governments to undertake highway
projects through implementation of State environmental laws would
go a long way toward ensuring that projects are approved in a
more timely and efficient manner. In California, where the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides equal or in
some instances greater environmental protection than federal
requirements, environmental stewardship would continue under what
would be a more centralized and efficient system of implementing
highway projects.
It should be noted that the Miller proposal builds upon
California’s successful implementation of the Surface
Transportation Project Delivery Pilot Program, which was created
under SAFETEA-LU. Under the SAFETEA-LU pilot program, the
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) assumed all of
the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) responsibilities
under NEPA for projects on California’s State Highway System and
for certain federal-aid local streets and roads projects.
In a related development, Representative Laura Richardson (D-CA)
recently introduced her own environmental streamlining
legislation (HR 2160), the Jobs Through Environmental
Safeguarding and Streamlining Act of 2011. The bill, cosponsored
by Representative Bob Filner (D-CA), would provide for a number
of transportation streamlining initiatives, including expanding
and making permanent the aforementioned Surface Transportation
Project Delivery Pilot Program.
In addition, the Richardson bill includes provisions that would
provide States and local governments with an increased role in
the environmental review and project decision-making process. The
measure also would direct the Secretary of Transportation to
initiate a study on the feasibility of entering into reciprocity
agreements with States to maximize their participation in the
environmental review process for certain projects and the
potential benefits of such agreements in expediting project
delivery.
With regard to transportation reauthorization efforts in the
House, Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee
Chairman John Mica (R-FL) is expected to officially unveil his
highway and transit reauthorization legislation the week of July
4. Mica has stated that committee markup will occur on July 12,
though some expect that the markup date could slip.
Across Capitol Hill, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) recently
introduced legislation (S 1216) that would waive the requirement
that all states and local governments install more reflective
road signs by 2018. The bill, which would ease new road-sign
mandates from FHWA, would provide states and local governments
with flexibility in meeting new reflective sign requirements.
A companion bill (HR 2257) was introduced in the House earlier
this week by Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN).
Clean Water Act – Section 404 Permitting
Representative Gary Miller also is expected to introduce in the
near future legislation to help streamline the Clean Water Act’s
(CWA) Section 404 permitting process. Specifically, the
legislation would provide a narrow exemption for maintenance
removal of sediment, debris, and vegetation from flood control
channels and basins.
Under Section 404, counties, local flood control agencies, and
similar local government agencies are required to obtain permits
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for the discharge
of dredged or fill material into navigable waters. The CWA also
provides a permitting exemption for the maintenance of currently
serviceable structures. However, the Corps has determined that
this exemption does not apply to certain routine maintenance
activities.
This narrow interpretation of the law has caused a number of
unintended consequences, including drastically increasing the
Corps’ workload and creating a significant permitting backlog;
the processing time for a 404 permit can take from one to three
years, and often comes with costly mitigation conditions
attached. It also has hampered local agencies in their efforts to
perform routine maintenance in a timely and responsive manner,
leaving them open to undue liability for flood damage.
CSAC has worked closely with Representative Miller on his Section
404 bill and has endorsed the effort. Several Members of the
California congressional delegation have agreed to become
original cosponsors of the legislation.
On a related matter, the House T&I Committee approved
bipartisan legislation on Wednesday, June 22 – authored by
Committee Chairman Mica and Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV) –
that would grant states more authority to make determinations
with respect to their water quality standards. The bill (HR
2018), called the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011,
would restrict the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
ability to revoke or delay a state’s permitting and water quality
decisions under the CWA once it has approved a state’s program.
In addition, the legislation would place limits on EPA’s ability
to veto dredge and fill permits issued by the Corps and would
give states more flexibility to administer permitting
programs.
Indian Reorganization Act – Carcieri
On Thursday, June 23, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held an
oversight hearing entitled “The Indian Reorganization Act – 75
Years Later: Renewing our Commitment to Restore Tribal Homelands
and Promote Self-Determination.” The committee heard testimony
from several members of the academic community, as well as from
tribal advocates and tribal leaders.
Notably, Thursday’s oversight hearing occurred more than two
months after the committee approved legislation that would amend
the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) to restore the Secretary of
Interior’s authority to take land into trust for all Indian
tribes. The measure (S 676), sponsored by the committee’s
Chairman, Daniel Akaka (D-HI), would overturn the U.S. Supreme
Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar decision. In Carcieri, the Court held
that the Secretary of Interior lacks authority to take land into
trust for Indian tribes that were not under federal jurisdiction
at the time of the passage of the IRA.
Across Capitol Hill, the House Natural Resources Committee’s
Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee is slated to hold a
Carcieri-related hearing in mid July. The subcommittee is
expected to receive testimony from a variety of witnesses and
will examine several topics related to the Carcieri decision,
including potential reform of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ land
into trust process.