The U.S. Senate last week passed a two-year, $109 billion transportation bill that contains an array of provisions important to the trucking industry, including creation of a national freight program and a mandate for electronic onboard recorders on trucks.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved an energy bill that would require President Obama to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline to carry crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.

President Obama last week proposed spending $476 billion on transportation over the coming six years in a plan that includes $50 billion for immediate infrastructure spending to spur job creation.

Congress last week dropped a proposed extension of a tax break, credited with dramatically boosting truck sales in 2011, from a bill that extends the federal payroll-tax holiday, but a Democratic lawmaker said the tax incentive could be passed later in the year.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week postponed debate and a vote on the six-year, $260 billion transportation reauthorization after several representatives objected to some of the bill’s provisions.

President Obama’s proposed budget calls for the U.S. Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery, Bloomberg reported.

As members of Congress race to pass a federal highway reauthorization bill by the end of March, many shippers are throwing their support behind legislation that would give states the authority to allow truckers to carry loads up to 97,000 pounds on interstate highways — a change they say would cut shipping costs considerably.

Both houses of Congress were scheduled to vote this week on separate transportation reauthorization bills that would provide highway spending of more than $41 billion annually.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are expected to vote as early as next week on their long-awaited transportation reauthorization bills.

The Senate has passed a long-awaited reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, avoiding another shutdown like the one that occurred last summer.