Senate Sends Highway Stopgap to Obama, Gives Go-Ahead to Long-Term Funding
The Senate passed a three-month stopgap authorization for transportation and infrastructure projects just a day before funding elapses for those programs at midnight on July 31. The House approved the legislation on July 29 (see 1507300012), and the stopgap is now awaiting President Barack Obama's signature.
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Senate lawmakers also rallied behind a six-year funding bill (here), dubbed the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act. That package features the Port Performance Act, a bill that mandates evaluation on a set of port metrics (see 1507160018), reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank and a range of project funding for transportation and infrastructure.
The American Association of Port Authorities praised the Senate action. “AAPA will continue advancing our freight policy priorities with the House as it takes up its reauthorization legislation over this period," said AAPA President Kurt Nagle. "We’re hopeful of final enactment of a long-term surface transportation bill, containing robust freight provisions and sustainable funding, by the October 29th deadline, as well as reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank.”
The six-year funding bill, which totals more than 1,000 pages, marks an "historical" step in changing course on short-term extensions, said chief sponsors of the legislation, Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., following the Senate vote. "We now have three more months to work to advance a long-term funding solution with the U.S. House of Representatives, which is ample time to break the cycle of short-term patches," they said (here).