7.2. SR 07-19-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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06/22/2004 14:32 FAX 703 620 4709 CAPITAL PARTNERSHIP ~ ELLIOTT PEROVICH ~002 CAPITAL PARTNERSHIPS (VA), :1.1350 Random Hills Road, #8008 Suite 800 Falrfax, VA 22030 703/620-9015 Fax:703-6204709 MEMORANDUM To: Elliott Perovieh CC: John Brimsek From: Ken Butler Date: June 22, 2004 I Re: STATUS OF TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE As we go into the final week before the Fourth of July recess, I wanted to let you know where things stand with the prospects for a six-year reauthorization bill this year. Las,~ week I met with one of the Chief Counsel's of the U.S. Department of Transportation'and he related that the department had been asked to draft a one-month mad a three-month, extension of the federal highway/transit program, which expires on June 30, 2004. It ,was his opinion that if the Congress went with the one-month bill, there was still a chance that a six year bill could emerge from Congress before the National Democratic Convention convenes in Boston on or around July 26, 2004. If the Congress went to the three-month extension until after the beginning of the next federal fiscal year, it was considered very unlikely a long-term bill could pass this year. The good news is that the Congress sometime this week will be passing the 30-day extension bill. Further, our hopes were heightened on last Friday, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) stated in a news conference that he and Speaker Bill Hasten (R-ILL) had directed the House/Senate Transportation Conferees to draft a $275 billion, 6-year reauthorizafion bill and that a process had been agreed to for passing the bill before the August Congressional recess. I met yesterday with a top aide to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and no such agreement was ever made and since then nearly all of the Senate Conferees have denounced the $275 billion level. The bottom line is the old saying "the more tkings change the more they stay the same." The likelihood of a major bill passing this year is still not good, BUT w/th the Con~ess passing only a 30 day extension and everyone believing that something must happen before the August recess for there to be a bill this year, the possibility still exists that a major bill will emerge. We will be still working on your behalf with that belief in mind.