On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved legislation that will provide $8 billion to keep the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) solvent until mid-December.  The legislation is paid for through various tax compliance measures, as well as the extension of certain TSA fees that are currently scheduled to expire in 2024.  

The House measure is simply a funding extension and does not contain any policy provisions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has stated his opposition to a short-term extension, and hopes to enact a long-term highway bill prior to July 31, 2015 when the HTF will become insolvent.  The Majority Leader has proposed a series of provisions to pay for the bill, and the length of the bill will largely depend on how many of these “pay-fors” Senators agree to.  Several of these measures, such as changes to federal employee retirement benefits, and the selling of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fund, have been criticized by Senators on both sides of the aisle.  Senator McConnell has begun taking the procedural steps necessary to begin considering the bill next week.  Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill will likely include policy provisions related to highway, transit, and rail policy.