Late last night, the Senate gave approval to a short-term fix for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). This action came after a number of votes and debate over how to fund the nation’s transportation financing program. On Tuesday, the Senate voted on House legislation - HR 5021 - to fund the HTF through May 31, 2015. Prior to doing so, however, the Senate adopted two controversial amendments. The first amendment, authored by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), replaced a key funding offset provision. The second amendment, authored by Senators Barbara Boxer and others, reduced the length of funding to December 31, 2014, in an attempt to encourage Congress to act on a more long-term, multi-year funding reauthorization of the HTF. As expected, the House took immediate action to remove the controversial Senate amendments, sending the bill back to the Senate. In response to the House’s rejection of the Senate-amended version, the Senate agreed to adopt the House version. This avoids a transportation funding crisis as the Federal Highways Administration was prepared to implement cash management procedures to limit the amount and distribution of payments to states.
HR 5021 also includes an extension to MAP-21, the federal transportation funding program which is due to expire in September, and is paid for through a variety of funding mechanisms including “pension smoothing,” an extension of expiring customs duties, and funding transfers from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund. The bill now heads to the President for his consideration, where he is expected to sign the bill into law.
Congress will still need to work to reach an agreement over how to fund and how long to fund the HTF as well as renew MAP-21 in the coming months as it gets closer to the May 2015 extension deadline.