Paul Ryan, Bill Shuster Introduce House GOP Version of Two-Month Highway Fund Extension
The House Rules Committee has scheduled a hearing on a measure sponsored by the leaders of the tax-writing and transportation policy panels that would extend highway funding authority through July.
Members of the Rules panel will look to pave the way for floor consideration of the measure May 18 at 5 p.m. EDT. Floor debate is expected as early as May 19.
The bill, sponsored by Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), would provide an extension of federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund through July 31.
The House bill comes a day after the top Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works panel unveiled a bill that would extend surface transportation authorization into July. The EPW panel has scheduled a hearing on a long-term highway plan that month.
"While highway and transit program spending authority expires at the end of the month, the Highway Trust Fund has sufficient resources to fund its obligations through the end of July," Ryan and Shuster said in a statement. "It was our preference to move an extension through the end of the year, but we will need more time to reach a bipartisan agreement on offsets. This legislation will allow transportation spending to continue through July, while we work towards a next step to close the Trust Fund’s shortfall. Doing so will require our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be constructive in working towards a solution. Only then will we be able to produce a plan that gives states the certainty they need to build the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure our communities and economy need to thrive."
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has indicated the trust fund would need to be replenished with funds by midsummer.
