Funding Bills to Begin Journey to House, Senate Floors
After announcing he would break with tradition and keep the chamber in session for most of August, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated a few fiscal 2019 funding bills would be reaching the floor as early as the week of June 18.
It is likely the initial measures will pertain to veterans programs, energy and water systems, and the legislative branch, aides familiar with the appropriations process told Transport Topics. The Senate’s busy legislative calendar also will include votes on Trump’s nominees for a variety of posts, McConnell said.
“Senators should expect to remain in session in August to pass legislation, including appropriations bills, and to make additional progress on the president’s nominees,” the leader indicated recently.
Collins
The chairwoman of the transportation funding panel, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), has expressed confidence the chamber will consider the fiscal 2019 transportation bill in the coming weeks. That sentiment was echoed by the Senate’s top appropriator, Alabama’s Richard Shelby (R), who emphasized the leadership’s goal is to approve the bills by the July 4 recess. That would leave the Senate with two legislative weeks.
On the other side of the Capitol, House members are expected to consider a slew of funding measures shortly, including the transportation bill.
Shelby
Driving congressional Republicans’ impetus on advancing funding bills is a pressure to not combine the dozen measures into what’s known as an “omnibus.” President Donald Trump criticized the most recent omnibus bill he signed into law in March that avoided a government shutdown. Trump indicated he would not consider another omnibus. In recent years, Congress has relied on the omnibus method to fund the government and abandoned the long-standing practice of considering funding bills separately.
The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the transportation bill June 7. It would direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to connect with trucking and agriculture industry executives, federal policymakers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address the concerns livestock haulers have raised about electronic logging devices. The House version, advanced to the floor in May, would deny funding through fiscal 2019 for the enforcement of an electronic logging device rule on livestock haulers. It also includes a provision that is designed to ensure uniformity nationwide for meal-and-rest-break laws for truck drivers. Both bills would provide similar funding levels for the U.S. Department of Transportation and infrastructure grants.
After the consideration of the funding bills, the Senate Republican leadership indicated it intends to identify floor time to debate and possibly vote on policy measures pertaining to agriculture, waterways and aviation.
The Senate’s Federal Aviation Administration bill to reauthorize the country’s aviation system includes a provision that also would ensure nationwide uniformity on meal-and-rest-break rules for truck drivers. The trucking industry is among the freight stakeholders championing the Senate’s FAA bill.
