As of late Sunday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had managed to steer the multi-year highway bill introduced last week beyond some legislative potholes that had threatened to slow the process of getting the measure to the House for consideration.
The Senate voted on Wednesday to move forward a bipartisan highway bill that had been blocked by a procedural vote just a day before.
Two top Senators reached agreement today to put forward a bipartisan, multi-year highway bill that would fund projects for the next three years — leaving it to the next Congress to determine how to fund its final three years.
House Republican leaders on July 15 pushed through an $8-billion plus measure to fund highway and infrastructure expenditures through December 18.
Since oil prices started increasing in 2003, consumers and businesses have been increasingly feeling the pain in paying for fuel at the pump.
Aiming to address both the lack of funding for the Highway Trust Fund and the lack of trust in finding a long-term solution for that, Rep. Tim Rice (R-SC) has introduced a bill that would hike federal motor-fuel taxes by 10.1 cents per gallon and index the new rate to inflation.
With a voice vote on Saturday, the U.S. Senate approved the two-month extension of the highway bill that was passed by the House of Representatives last Tuesday. The legislation now awaits the expected signature of President Obama.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, has strongly indicated that there’s no way around applying another short-term patch to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent.
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House Thursday would index the current federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes to inflation, raising $27.5 billion to ensure highway-infrastructure spending is funded for exactly 1.7 years.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster argued that both Congress and President Obama lack the political will to increase federal fuel taxes to pay for funding the next highway bill.
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