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Yesterday, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and David Vitter (R-La.) jointly announced Senate Environment and Public Works Committee members are making progress on drafting new legislation — entitled Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) — that would reauthorize federal surface transportation programs.

MAP-21 would fund programs at current levels to maintain and modernize transportation infrastructure; eliminate earmarks; consolidate numerous programs to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative programs; consolidate certain programs into a more focused freight program that would improve the movement of goods; create America Fast Forward, which would strengthen the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program to stretch federal dollars; and expedite project delivery, the senators said in a joint statement. Boxer chairs the committee and Inhofe is a ranking member, while Baucus chairs the committee's Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee and Vitter is the subcommittee's ranking member.

“We are pleased to announce the great progress we have made on a new transportation authorization bill,” the senators said. “Throughout the 25 transportation hearings convened by this committee … we heard that there is tremendous support from businesses, workers and the American people for a transportation bill that leverages our federal dollars while maintaining a responsible fiscal path. We have found common ground in the belief that building highways, bridges and transportation systems is an important responsibility of the federal government, in cooperation with state and local governments and the private sector.”

The public works committee is working jointly with the Senate Finance Committee to explore various options for sustaining the Highway Trust Fund.

“Our goal is to attain the optimum achievable authorization length depending on the resources available,” the senators said. “It is critical that this be done in a way that does not increase the deficit and can achieve bipartisan support.”

MAP-21 identifies a “focused" freight program as a core content and recognizes the importance of a dedicated multi-modal freight initiative, said Coalition for American’s Gateways and Trade Corridors officials in a statement.

“Although the progress alluded to may bring forth a full authorization bill sooner rather than later, the joint statement by the Environment and Public Works Committee recalls in some ways the Commerce Committee’s bill of a couple of years ago establishing principles that they have adhered to in subsequent ‘pieces’ of authorization-targeted legislation,” they said. “That approach has had a useful effect in allowing the committee members to develop specific legislative proposals, such as the FREIGHT Act … that are consistent with the committee’s direction for authorization.”