The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Wednesday that Congress may need to pass short-term extensions authorizing the Highway Trust Fund and Federal Aviation Administration in the next few weeks.
Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said his panel is writing a multiyear authorization for surface transportation projects and expects to vote on a bill in his committee this month. But Shuster acknowledged that may not leave enough time to work out a deal with the Senate, which has already passed a six-year highway bill.
A temporary measure authorizing highway projects is already in place, and it runs out Oct. 29. Authorization for the FAA expires Sept. 30.
“We are going to have to do a short term extension … on FAA and probably on highway,” he told the Washington Examiner.
That plan is likely to disappoint many in the Senate, where senators from both parties said earlier this year that it’s time for a final long-term bill to allow more predictability in federal highway projects.
Shuster said while there are similarities between the House and Senate versions of the highway bill, the two measures are not identical. “Hopefully we’ve got some better stuff in there,” he said.
Shuster’s legislation will not address how to pay for the road projects. That task falls to the House Ways and Means Committee, where Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is working on a plan to raise revenue through repatriation of overseas profits of international corporations.
“He is working on a number of ways he thinks he can backfill the trust fund,” Shuster said.
Shuster said he will begin to take up FAA reauthorization in his committee “right after” he completes the highway bill.
