LETTER PUSHES FOR HIGHWAY BILL

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and 99 other Republicans in the House have succeeded in pushing House leaders to move ahead with efforts to pass a federal highway bill.

In a letter this week to Majority Leader Dick Armey, the lawmakers said they want the House to finish work on a new highway bill before its two-week break in April.

Emerson drafted the letter.

"It took us two hours to get 100 signatures," Emerson said Friday.

The lawmakers threatened to block adjournment for the spring break unless the House has completed work on the highway bill. The House is scheduled to adjourn for the break April 2.

"It would be unconscionable for us as members of the House to return to our districts in April without having completed floor consideration of this vital legislation," Emerson wrote.

The House leadership, including Armey, agreed to bring the highway bill to the floor on March 31 or April 1, at the latest. Emerson said the leadership has agreed to total transportation spending of $218 billion over six years.

The spending package is $4 billion above the highway bill approved Thursday by the Senate.

Both the House and Senate bills would provide increased highway funding for Missouri.

Emerson said there are some differences in the bills that must be reconciled by a joint House-Senate conference committee. She predicted that could be done in time to send a transportation-funding bill to President Clinton by May 1.

Emerson said the House leadership probably wouldn't have moved up the timetable for the bill had they not pushed the issue.

Emerson is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has yet to pass the bill out of committee. Emerson said the committee had been unable to move forward with the legislation because the House leadership hasn't settled on a total transportation spending figure.

The decision by House leaders to set the total spending level clears the way for the Transportation Committee to act, Emerson said.

"The bottom line is we need a highway bill, and we need it sooner rather than later," she said.

The short-term extension of federal highway funding is set to expire May 1.

"If the bill is not complete or another extension isn't granted, many states will be left without road funds at the start of their prime construction season," Emerson said.

She said Armey is responsible for scheduling the order in which bills will be considered by the House. Armey previously didn't want to consider highway funding until some decisions had been made about the total federal budget, she said.

"I just felt like it was very irresponsible," said Emerson. "I was just a little bit frustrated last week."