politics

Congress is expected to return home for the holidays Tuesday without taking final action on a proposed St. Croix River crossing, pushing into next year the long-sought environmental approval from the federal government.

The delay, which Minnesota lawmakers say could last several more months, puts another squeeze on the timetable for the $700 million bridge project. Transportation officials warn that considerable work remains before funding expires in 2014.

"The window's getting tighter," said Adam Josephson, MnDOT's east metro manager. "We had some contingencies built into that timetable and they're definitely getting eroded away. It is getting more and more difficult as time goes on to deliver this project."

Heading into a partisan impasse Monday over an extension of a payroll tax holiday for middle-class families, the St. Croix bridge language didn't appear in any of the year-end tax and spending bills passed by the House or the Senate in recent days.

But Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., one of the leading proponents of the span, said she continues to be optimistic about the bridge project, which has bipartisan support in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

"We believe we still have a window here for early next year," said Klobuchar, who made an attempt over the weekend to include bridge language into year-end tax and spending bills. "We can get it done."

Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann, the House sponsor of a bill granting an exemption from the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that protects the river, also expressed confidence in congressional approval early next year.

"While it was my hope to see the St. Croix River Crossing legislation passed in 2011, I cannot underscore enough how much progress was made this year," said Bachmann, who introduced her bridge bill on March 1.

Bachmann aides said that while she has been campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in recent months, she has been in regular contact with House Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders. All involved have reportedly given informal assurances of early action when Congress returns in January.

Aides to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington attributed the delay to Congress' preoccupation with a so-far elusive compromise on tax and spending, rather than to any opposition by leaders in either party. The bridge plan requires no additional spending authority from Congress, making it an easier sell among deficit-conscious lawmakers.

Klobuchar, who also carried legislation granting environmental clearances for the bridge, called it a "strange year" that provided few opportunities to advance initiatives other than front-burner tax and spending bills. If this was a "normal year," she said, Congress would have been able to pass environmental clearances.

The bridge project has won support from both Democrats and Republicans in the Minnesota and Wisconsin delegations, as well as from Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican.

Dayton, speaking at a county official's event earlier this month, noted that the language enabling the bridge to go forward has gone through the necessary committees in both the House and Senate, and awaits only a final vote in each chamber.

"If things were logical and rational and sane in Washington, you'd say it will pass very quickly," Dayton said. "But they're not."

A spokeswoman for the governor said Dayton is scheduled to meet with Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel this week to discuss what the lack of congressional action means for the project, scheduled to begin in two years.

Funding with expiration date

Federal funds expire at the end of September 2014 and state funds at the end of that year, Josephson said. Considerable work remains before MnDOT could start construction, including a final design for the bridge and roadways leading to it.

Several state and federal permits must be secured, he said, and the state has to acquire property rights for the project. "We do have great concerns from a schedule standpoint," he said. "We want to see things move forward in a timely manner."

Sorel traveled to Washington last month for a closed-door summit involving top Obama administration officials and members of the Minnesota congressional delegation. Although the Interior Department has ruled that the project would violate the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the administration has signaled that it would not object if Congress passed an exemption.

Minnesota Democrats Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison have opposed the bridge plan, but a bill they introduced in the U.S. House last month to scale back the project has failed to gain any traction, either.

With Congress still divided over a long-term debt-reduction plan and lawmakers preparing for a presidential election, it could be a tough sell in 2012 as well, McCollum said.

"The chances won't get any better next year," said McCollum, who favors a smaller bridge. "I don't know too many members of Congress who will be excited about voting to waste hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on an oversized, extra-dosed bridge when they are running for re-election." 

In Oak Park Heights, where the bridge would be built, Mayor David Beaudet said he hoped the delay would lead to serious discussion, in a federal working group, about alternatives to the current proposal.

Reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger contributed to this story. Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037 Twitter: @stribgiles Kevin Diaz is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau.