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Plans for a short-term replenishment of a federal fund for highway and mass-transit projects moved a step forward as the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would largely concede to a competing House version.
The 79-18 final vote late yesterday on an $8 billion proposal by Senators Tom Carper of Delaware and Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, provides enough money for the Highway Trust Fund until Dec. 19. It rivals a House-passed measure that provides $11 billion through May.
The federal highway trust fund has been running short for years. If Congress does not approve new legislation this week, the feds will have to reduce promised payments to states by Aug. 1.
“States have been warned to expect an average reduction of 28 percent in aid payments,” The Associated Press reports. “Without action from Congress, the balance in the fund is expected to drop to zero by late August or early September.”
House Speaker John Boehner had warned that the Senate shouldn’t mess with the House bill’s financing mechanisms. “I just want to make clear, if the Senate sends a highway bill over here with those provisions, we’re going to strip it out and put the House-passed provisions back in and send it back to the Senate,” he said.
But a bipartisan group of senators decided it would be better policy to come up with just enough money to keep the transportation programs on track until the week before Christmas.
That way, they reasoned, Congress will be forced after the fall elections to come up with a longer-term plan.
The House and Senate will now have to reconcile their versions — or hope that they can make the other chamber blink just ahead of a planned five-week recess.
“As I have said before, we won’t let the clock run out on transportation funding,” Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and the Senate Finance Committee chair, said in a statement.
Agencies/Canadajournal
