The U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is prepared to release the text of a five-year transportation reauthorization bill early next week, with a full committee meeting set for February 2, 2012, according to this AASHTO report.  The $260 billion bill would in part be funded by increased domestic energy production; a forthcoming Policy Update will analyze the bill in greater detail.  The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup of the energy portions of the reauthorization bill on February 1, and the House Ways and Means Committee will mark up the revenue portions of the bill on February 3.  The full House is expected to take up the combined reauthorization bill the week of February 13.

In related news, the Chair of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced that the remaining Senate committees would mark up their portions of the transportation reauthorization bill next week.  The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the transit portion of the bill, and the Senate Finance Committee is responsible for the revenue provisions.  The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marked up the highway portion of the bill in November, and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved various freight, safety, and research bills in December.