A House panel will advance a long-term highway funding bill when Congress reconvenes next week, Republican aides announced on Wednesday.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee scheduled an Oct. 22 meeting to pass a multi-year, surface transportation reauthorization bill. Details of that bill will be released on Thursday, Oct. 15, committee aides said.
“Next week, the committee will move forward with the policy and authorization provisions of a bill to improve America’s surface transportation infrastructure, reform programs, refocus those programs on national priorities, provide more flexibility and certainty for state and local partners and welcome innovation,” Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said in a statement.
The mark-up will come just eight days before the current highway authorization is set to expire, which may not be enough time for the House to consider the bill and for lawmakers to work out a deal with the Senate. The Senate has already passed its own version of a long-term highway measure.
Shuster’s legislation designates where the government should spend highway funding, but it does not come up with ways to pay for those projects. The House Ways and Means Committee is responsible for working out the funding details and has not yet completed the task.
Because current highway funding authorization runs out on Oct. 30, Congress may have to pass another short-term patch to keep road surface projects up and running.
In July, the Senate passed a bill authorizing transportation funding for six years. The Senate bill pays for the first three years by stepping up tax code enforcement and selling off a significant portion of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The Senate bill also includes a provision that would revive the expired Export-Import Bank, which many House conservatives oppose.
