RESTORE Act has been shepherded through Congress by Rep. Steve Scalise and Sen. Mary Landrieu
WASHINGTON -- In a positive sign for legislation to designate 80 percent of fines from the 2010 oil spill for the five Gulf States, House GOP leaders agreed Monday to incorporate the outlines of the proposal into a stop-gap transportation funding bill. The plan by the GOP is to pass the transportation bill this week, most likely on Wednesday, and then proceed into negotiations with the Senate on a long-term transportation bill.
Rep. Steve Scalise and Sen. Mary Landrieu have been shepherding the RESTORE Act through both houses of Congress.Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said the inclusion of the language from the legislation, known as the RESTORE Act, bodes well for its eventual enactment.
"In effect, you have the RESTORE Act in both the House and Senate versions of the bill so that means both Senate and House negotiators should accept it," Scalise said.
That's reinforced, Scalise said, by the fact the bill being brought up by House Republican leaders includes only three provisions -- a 90-day extension of transportation funding, a provision setting up a trust fund for 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fine money from the BP spill for the five Gulf States, and another giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 30 days to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.
That shows that the House GOP leadership is firmly behind the measure, Scalise said.
But this is far from a done deal.
Senate Democrats last month rebuffed GOP efforts to add a Keystone pipeline amendment to the Senate transportation bill. And President Barack Obama, who earlier refused to grant a permit, said he can't approve it until additional information is provided about the routes for the pipeline, which would carry synthetic fuel from Western Canada to the Gulf Coast, is finally selected.
And there are provisions in the Senate-passed transportation bill that House Republicans are likely to oppose.
Still, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who led efforts to pass the RESTORE Act in the Senate, was encouraged by the House decision to include language creating a trust fund for the 80 percent of BP fines that would be targeted to the five Gulf states -- Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida.
The Senate transportation bill includes the full legislative language from the RESTORE Act. It directs that BP fine money be distributed to the five Gulf States for ecological and economic recovery along the coast.
It also sets up a Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to develop and finance a comprehensive plan for ecological recovery and establishes a Gulf Coastal Ecosystem Restoration, Science, Observation Monitoring and Technology Program.
The House began work on a transportation bill last February, and adopted seven amendments, including the RESTORE Act provision. But House leaders pulled the bill when it became clear they didn't have the votes to pass the measure.
Scalise said this scaled-down bill the House plans to enact Wednesday should pave the way for House-Senate negotiations that hopefully will produce a bill that can pass both houses of Congress.