House Three-Month Funding Deal Eclipses Prospects of Advancing Key Trucking Provisions
A GOP-backed three-month funding patch for transportation programs that is advancing through the House, for which Senate Republican leaders have expressed support, would push a six-year transportation bill with several trucking provisions to the side, at least for now.
On July 28, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would lay before the chamber the House’s three-month measure. But passage of a three-month bill is at the mercy of House Democrats, whose leadership has yet to indicate if they would back the most recent patch. Earlier this month, the House voted overwhelmingly to send the Senate a five-month highway funding extension.
Whichever measure the chambers choose to send to the White House, the would need to do so before July 31. That’s when the authorization for highway funding expires.
McConnell’s announcement was an abrupt end to several long days of legislative work in the Senate, including a rare Sunday session, in which dozens of senators stressed the need for advancing a long-term highway bill.
“When Congress fails to provide the necessary certainty about the way transportation funding will be allocated, states and local governments are left without the certainty they need to authorize projects or make long-term plans for transportation infrastructure. And that means that essential construction projects get deferred, necessary repairs may not get made and jobs that depend on transportation are put in jeopardy,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who is in charge of the committee on highway safe and a backer of a long-term bill.
The Senate’s six-year measure, the first three years of which would authorize funding, would take down from public view Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s website while an independent review of the scores takes place. The bill also would pave the way for commercial drivers under 21 to operate interstate, and it would allow trucking firms to rely on hair testing for certain pre-employment screenings.
