House Rules Panel Takes Up Transportation Spending Bill May 29

The House Rules Committee will meet May 29 to set the conditions for floor debate of a fiscal 2015 transportation spending bill.

With the House in recess the first week in June, the transportation measure could reach the floor when lawmakers return the week of June 9, said several senior Republican aides. That would clear a vote on the measure in the GOP-controlled House.

The Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will consider their version June 3 at 10:30 a.m.

The $52 billion Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, approved by the Appropriations Committee on May 21 on a 28-21 vote, is about $1.2 billion above the fiscal 2014 enacted level and nearly $8 billion below the Obama administration’s fiscal 2015 budget request. It would provide $40.25 billion in formula highway spending for the federal Highway Trust Fund account, matching the 2014 level.

The bill also would provide $100 million for a popular transportation grant program -- $500 million less than the fiscal 2014 enacted level -- and it would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to prove to Congress a restart-restriction rule is of value to the trucking industry.

Other provisions in the bill would allow Idaho to have longer combination trucks on its stretch of the interstate system if the trucks have a gross weight of 129,000 pounds or less and are authorized to operate under state law. It also would allow state officials to have higher weight limits for trucks if U.S. Route 41 in Wisconsin and U.S. Route 78 in Mississippi are designated as part of the interstate system.

Democrats have indicated they would look to offer amendments to the bill that are aimed at boosting funding for infrastructure programs. The panel meets at 3 p.m. ET.