Background
ISTEA was signed into law in 1991. At that time, it was touted as the most important transportation bill since the start of the Interstate System 35 years prior. The bill included the top domestic agenda items at that time: the renewal of the surface transportation programs to address the changing needs for America, creating jobs, reducing congestion, and rebuilding the infrastructure.
TEA-21, signed into law in 1998, was also touted as landmark legislation. It provided a 6-year program with record levels of investment for highways and transit programs and provided minimum guarantees to States along with greater flexibility in the use of the funds. TEA-21 provided budget categories for highway and transit discretionary spending effectively establishing a budgetary firewall between each of those programs and all other domestic discretionary programs ensuring that transportation funds were used for transportation.
TEA-21 expired on September 30, 2003 and Congress passed a series of continuing resolutions to keep transportation programs operating until a new transportation reauthorization was finally passed. HR 3 (SAFETEA-LU) was passed by Congress on July 29, 2005 and signed by the President on August 10, 2005.
The bill originally passed the House as TEA-LU (Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users) and passed the Senate as SAFETEA (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act). As part of the conference committee compromise to settle the difference between the two names, the final bill was named SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users).
SAFETEA-LU continues the TEA-21 guaranteed funding based on the Highway Trust Fund receipts. The guaranteed amount is the floor, the least amount of the authorizations that may be spent. The bill also establishes an annual obligation limit which is the ceiling, the most that can be spent each year. The highway obligation applies to all programs with the overall federal highway program except for Emergency Relief, a portion of the Equity Bonus program (formerly minimum guarantee program) and funds for certain projects in the law prior to 1998.
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