The first highway bill has emerged in the 115th Congress— a two-pronged measure introduced on Feb. 1 by Nebraska's Sen. Deb Fischer.
Playing beat the clock, the House of Representatives today approved by voice vote a three-week extension of transportation funding.
The Senate passed its massive and contentious long-term highway bill and then approved the three-month extension of federal highway funding passed earlier by the House. The $8 billion patch, which runs out on October 29, has been sent to President Obama, who is expected to sign the bill.
Aiming to address both the lack of funding for the Highway Trust Fund and the lack of trust in finding a long-term solution for that, Rep. Tim Rice (R-SC) has introduced a bill that would hike federal motor-fuel taxes by 10.1 cents per gallon and index the new rate to inflation.
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House Thursday would index the current federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes to inflation, raising $27.5 billion to ensure highway-infrastructure spending is funded for exactly 1.7 years.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster argued that both Congress and President Obama lack the political will to increase federal fuel taxes to pay for funding the next highway bill.
Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that one of his 2015 priorities will be a highway bill – but he does not expect it to be funded by a fuel tax increase, the AP reported.