An Illinois lawmaker reintroduced the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act before the Congress just days after the previous session failed to advance it and a Route 66 Historic Trail bill past the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) reintroduced the centennial bill, called H.R. 66, on Jan. 3 as the new Congress convened. Davis introduced the same bill during the previous session.
The centennial bill would “direct the Secretary of Transportation to prepare a plan on the preservation needs of Route 66, and for other purposes.” The centennial of Route 66 will be in 2026.
A search of the Congress’ website for the Route 66 National Historic Trail Designation Act turned up empty, but a prominent Route 66 official told the Joplin Globe he was confident it would be enacted into law later this year.
“We will pass it this year, and there is no question that we want to move forward,” said Bill Thomas, chairman of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership board of directors. “We just suffered a combination of a government shutdown, no offense, but President Bush’s funeral delayed things by a week, and the time ran out before Dec. 31.” […]
Thomas said once Congress returns to a normal state of operation, the legislation will be able to move forward again and rather quickly. This go-round should be easier, because the language of the bill has already been crafted and Congress is familiar with it. […]
“We don’t have to go all of the way back to square one, and we are in the process of getting the legislation reintroduced in Congress,” Thomas said. “I’m hopeful and confident that it will pass relatively soon.”
Rhys Martin, the new president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, told the newspaper he’d heard the historic-trail legislation had been packaged with a Senate spending bill. However, a search through the congressional database Wednesday night showed no such bill had been introduced.
U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) introduced the original historic-trail bill, and it later was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).
(Image of sunset at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington by Virginia Pickering via Flickr)
“Thomas said once Congress returns to a normal state of operation”
Now that’s laughable! I do hope it does get through but I won’t hold my breath.