WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) — After days of debate and dozens of tweaks, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a massive funding bill that could allocate as much as $325 billion for highway and other transportation projects.
The chamber overwhelmingly passed the new funding bill — by a vote of 363-to-64 — which aims to provide funding for the system for six years. If authorized, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act would fiscally cover the nation’s transportation system until 2021.
Congressional efforts to re-fund the nation’s highway and transportation systems have been ongoing for months. In July, lawmakers passed a bill that provided funding for an additional three months — but that expired last week, potentially creating a gap in funding for the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
Lawmakers voted on nearly 130 amendments to the bill before it passed, The Hill blog reported.
Under the 558-page bill, $261 billion would be earmarked for U.S. highways, $55 billion for various transit systems and $9 billion for safety programs.
In addition to providing necessary funding, the STRR Act also aims to convert the U.S. highway program to a block grant funding system with the goal of providing more flexibility to state and local governments.
However, there’s a major catch in the House legislation. It authorizes the full six years of funding only if Congress can find a way to pay for the systems between 2019 and 2021 — the plan’s final three years. The House bill must now be merged with the Senate version, which does not contain that requirement.
Lawmakers have until Nov. 20 to iron out the measure’s final version before the money runs out.
Thursday’s passage of the STRR Act follows several days of debate on Capitol Hill about the issue — particularly a proposed hike in the federal gas tax, which is the main source of transportation funding. But the problem is, lawmakers say, the gas tax isn’t providing enough money to cover some much-needed projects. Thus, they have been forced to hunt for money elsewhere to pay for them.
One proposal was to simply raise the gas tax, but House Republicans blocked a vote on that idea — as they, and some Democrats, have long been reluctant to ask American motorists to pay more at the gas pump.
“The biggest and most glaring omission by the Rules Committee is not allowing any attempt by this House to fund the bill. I mean, that’s pretty extraordinary,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), D-Ore., the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said during a floor debate Wednesday. “Why can’t we have a simple vote on revenues?”
Consequently, the House never voted on raising the gas tax — which presently sits at 18.4 cents per gallon. The proposal would have raised the tax by 15 cents, to more than 33 cents per gallon. The national average for regular gasoline was at $2.21 per gallon Thursday, according to AAA.
“This is the best transportation process and the best transportation rule that this body has seen in a decade,” Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), R-Ga., said, referring to the fact that no bill has funded the U.S. transportation system for more than two years since 2005.
“Congress is now on the cusp of a major victory for American manufacturing,” Dennis Slater, president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, said. “AEM will work tirelessly in the coming weeks to urge House and Senate leaders to expeditiously reconcile the differences between their two bills.”
Thursday’s House bill more than makes up the projected shortfall — $100 billion, estimated by the Congressional Budget Office — between money in the gas tax fund and the projected costs of necessary transportation maintenance.
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