House Transportation Committee Will Unveil Part of Transpo Bill Next Week

Correction: The initial post stated that the full transportation reauthorization will be unveiled next week. The post has been updated to reflect that only the rail portion will be released next week.

Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) just announced that he'll be introducing the rail portion of the House transportation bill next Tuesday, which will specifically include the GOP proposal to privatize the Northeast Corridor, with a markup scheduled for Wednesday.

"This legislation will pass, I can guarantee you," he said of the whole bill. He said it might not pass this session, but it will pass in the next 36 months.

The rest of the bill, Mica said, will be introduced in the week after the July 4 recess, followed by a period for comment and public participation, and then a markup July 12, when the committee will send the bill to the full House for a vote.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting for a bill to be introduced by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. They said three weeks ago that they'd be releasing it in two weeks.