Congressional Delegation Urges Accord on Roads

RICHMOND, Feb. 12 -- Members of Virginia's congressional delegation urged state lawmakers Monday to reach an agreement on transportation funding as the General Assembly prepared for a battle in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday morning.

Speaking after a closed-door session with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), several of the state's 13 members of Congress said they have been trying to work together to increase federal funding for roads and transit.

"We wish that, perhaps, this cooperative attitude could be extended a few hundred yards further to the statehouse," said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.). "We do hope that the legislature can get it together to do its share."

Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.) praised a plan negotiated by Republicans and approved by the House that would raise taxes and fees for transportation statewide and allow localities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to raise even more money to spend in their areas.

"The House offer on the table is a very legitimate one," he said, adding that legislators "are receiving a lot of encouragement from us to work something out that meets the transportation needs of the state and also keeps the state fiscally responsible and a low-tax state."

But even as members of the congressional team offered their thoughts, Virginia legislators continued to push against a Tuesday deadline for the transportation plan.

On Monday morning, lobbyists and transportation advocates packed a tiny hearing room as the Senate Transportation Committee approved the House proposal, whose chief sponsor is Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).

The panel voted along party lines to send the measure on to the finance committee, which must either approve, reject or ignore it by the end of the day.

"This bill has a long way to go, as everyone knows," said Sen. Martin E. Williams (R-Newport News), transportation committee chairman.

The chief obstacle remains a proposal to shift $250 million from the state's general fund -- which pays for schools, colleges, health care and police -- to the transportation fund. Democrats on the transportation committee said they could not support the plan as long as it included that provision.

"That's my great concern," said Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk), "that we are taking a mammoth amount from the general fund."

But advocates of the bill said taking the money from the general fund would not endanger other state programs. And they said the provision was part of an overall agreement with Republicans in the House that cannot be changed.

"There are too many needs, there is too much money on the table, there is too much risk to walk away now," said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, a group of business, civic and political leaders.

All eyes have now turned to the finance committee, whose chairman, Sen. John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland), opposes the general fund transfer. Chichester is expected to consider Howell's bill Tuesday morning.

Some observers said Chichester could try to remake the bill to his liking, by stripping out the $250 million transfer and replacing it with a tax on gasoline. He tried that earlier in the session but was stymied by a procedural technicality.

If he does that, House leaders have said the bill would be dead on arrival in their chamber. But the competing approaches would head to a conference committee, where a group of lawmakers would attempt to reach a compromise. Because of arcane Senate rules, it's possible that Chichester would not be able to appoint his allies as negotiators.

As a result, some lobbyists and lawmakers speculated Monday night that Chichester would try to bottle up the bill in his committee, refusing to let it out.

For the moment, though, House Republican leaders said they were pleased that the transportation plan had taken another step forward.

"I learned . . . as long as things are moving in the right direction, keep your mouth shut," said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).