A Senate subcommittee on June 23 is scheduled to mark up a fiscal 2016 transportation spending bill that would provide funding for the nation’s top trucking regulator and an infrastructure grants program.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins will oversee the hearing of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.
At a hearing in April, Collins said the Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 budget plan fell short of resolving the country’s transportation funding woes.
“This administration has had six years to provide Congress with specific proposals to reform” the Highway Trust Fund, the chairwoman said.
The Obama administration’s $95 billion plan for fiscal 2016, which would mark the start of the six-year, $478 billion Grow America Plan for highway programs, is unlikely to advance through Congress. And, according to the Department of Transportation, the trust fund’s highway account will encounter a shortfall before the end of the current fiscal year.
A House-passed fiscal 2016 transportation spending bill included new requirements in the hours-of-service restart study and permitted the use of twin 33-foot trailers. The House bill also would provide the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration with $572 million for the next fiscal year.
The Senate hearing starts at 10 a.m.
