Reauthorization

We reported this morning that there seemed to be some distance between how Sen. Barbara Boxer understands the deal with Sen. Tom Coburn and how Coburn understands it. To clarify, Boxer just issued this statement:

UPDATED with comments from Sen. Tom Coburn's staff.

Although SAFETEA-LU doesn't expire for another two weeks, the FAA reauthorization expires in two days, and Reid said that if Coburn doesn't change course, "we cannot get to this bill prior to Friday when the FAA expires.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has placed a "hold" on the transportation extension, along with a bill to continue sanctions against Burma and to provide disaster relief to areas affected by Hurricane Irene and other storms.

For the last few days, we've been talking a lot about Sen. Tom Coburn's crusade to remove bike/ped funding from the transportation bill -- even just from the six-month extension that just passed the House and is on its way to the Senate. He's determined to insert an amendment to take out the funds.

Just days after a Senate committee asked the full chamber to consider a four-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, new negotiations have replaced that idea with a six-month extension at current spending levels. The bill also extends the gas tax.

The Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously agreed this morning to send a four-month extension of the transportation bill to the full Senate. Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) emphasized that it wasn’t easy to get consensus on the extension, especially with many members wanting to move forward with the full two-year bill.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is meeting tomorrow to discuss a four-month extension to the current transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU. The map above is from a short but powerful document the Federal Transit Administration put out this week explaining "The Impacts of Failing to Extend Surface Transportation Funding" [PDF]. How much transit work would grind to a halt in your state without an extension?

Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn is known around the Senate as "Dr. No" for his propensity to hold up key legislation, single-handedly, because it contains something not to his liking (or sometimes because he's upset about something else entirely.) On Veterans Day in 2009, he shocked even his GOP colleagues by blocking veterans' benefits because he wanted their cost to be offset. Because of a Senate rule requiring unanimity for certain votes, he alone has been able to block votes on wilderness protections, health care provisions, and disarmament in Uganda.