Transportation Bill Sits Atop Agenda When Congress Reconvenes Jan. 20

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top priority for lawmakers and the freight-hauling industry when Congress comes back to work on Jan. 20 will be passing a 6-year transportation bill, government and industry leaders said.

For that to happen, Congress and the Bush administration must reconcile three separate pieces of legislation and meet a 5-week deadline for writing a single new bill.

Funding for federal highway and bridge programs will expire Feb. 29 because last year Congress delayed action on a long-term bill to set new priorities and spending levels, instead opting in September for a 5-month extension of the existing law.

American Trucking Associations officials told Transport Topics that getting a new, long-term highway bill through Congress is the group’s most important legislative goal for 2004.

This article appears in the Jan. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.