Senate approves short-term transport patch

The Senate on Wednesday approved a House measure to extend federal transportation spending for three weeks and prevent a shutdown in funding today.    The Senate on Wednesday approved a House measure to extend federal transportation spending for three weeks and prevent a shutdown in funding today, when the current short-term authorization is set to expire.
   The bill, which was approved by voice vote after being sent over by the House on Tuesday, now goes to President Obama for final approval.
   Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress now have until Nov. 20 to finish long-term highway and infrastructure legislation before another stop-gap measure would be needed to keep programs afloat.
   Transportation industry advocates and President Obama have been frustrated with Congress’s inability to pass a multi-year highway bill. They argue that short-term measures prevent state governments from being able to move forward with long-term infrastructure projects due to uncertainty regarding federal funding, but Congress has not passed a transportation funding bill lasting longer than two years since 2005.
  The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last Thursday unanimously approved the six-year, $325 billion Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015, which would reauthorize federal transportation programs, including highway and bridge construction aid. House lawmakers are expected to put their finishing touches on the bill before holding a full vote next week that would send STRR to the Senate for consideration.
   At that point, STRR will have to be reconciled with the Senate’s DRIVE Act, which passed in July and would authorize about $258 billion in funding over six years, but only includes guaranteed funding for three years because senators could not agree on how to fund the remaining years beyond baseline levels.
   The Department of Transportation spends about $50 billion each year on transportation projects, $16 billion more than the $34 billion the Highway Trust Fund receives from gas and diesel taxes, which haven’t been raised in over 22 years.