As we predicted earlier, early
Saturday morning the Senate passed the House approved extension of Federal
Highway Trust Fund expenditures through July 31. The fund authorization was set
to expire May 31, and President Obama is expected to sign the bill on his desk,
to avoid stopping work on innumerable federally funded road construction projects
this summer.
However, the Highway Trust Fund will
run out of money in late July or early August. Congressional leaders do not
expect any long term extension legislation until year end action by the House
Ways and Means Committee on a comprehensive tax reform bill, according to House
Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Bill Schuster. Congress will have to
appropriate about $5 billion to keep highway projects going through September,
and $10 billion to keep them funded through year end.
American Automobile Association Vice
President for Public Affairs Kathleen Bower blasted the inefficiency and high
cost of the now 33 temporary surface transportation funding extensions: “It’s
almost like a payday loan,” she said in a May 19 press briefing.
