DALLAS - The House voted Wednesday afternoon to advance a three-month extension of the Highway Trust Fund that would keep federal transportation dollars flowing while lawmakers work out their differences on a six-year measure being debated in the Senate. The measure passed easily, 385 in favor to 34 opposed with one lawmaker voting present,
The House then quickly recessed for the traditional August break.
The Senate is expected to vote on the House's short-term patch as well as its multiyear transportation proposal on Thursday. The 90-extension would then go to President Obama and the six-year bill to the House.
The short-term agreement extends the Transportation Department's expenditure authority through Oct. 29 but provides the full $8.1 billion of additional revenue contained in the five-month patch adopted by the House on July 15. That bill, which the Senate never considered, would have kept the HTF solvent through Dec. 18.
The two months of spending authority provided by the quick fix approved by Congress in late May would expire Friday without congressional action to extend federal transportation funding.
The Senate voted Wednesday to limit debate on the transportation bill, which would allow a vote on the multiyear measure by Thursday afternoon. The basis of the Senate bill is the DRIVE Act (S.1647) that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved unanimously June 24.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday he agreed to the three-month extension to avoid a shutdown of road projects and let the House and Senate resolve their differences when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day.
"We'll take up that bill once the House sends it to us, and we'll continue working in the interim to finish our own multiyear highway bill," McConnell said.
"In the meantime, we'll work with our friends in the House to give them the space they need to develop a multiyear highway bill," he said. "We'll conference the legislation we pass with what the House passes and then send a unified bill to President Obama."
Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, promised quick action in the House on a multiyear bill.
"We've been working on it for six months," Shuster said. "This three-month extension is necessary. It will give us enough time for our committee to do our work, get something on the board and go to conference."
House Speaker John Boehner said he wants a transportation bill that is fully funded for all six years rather than just the first three years as in the Senate measure.
"We've been trying to do this for four years," he said after Tuesday's Republican caucus. "I'm going to do everything I can to get to a long-term highway bill by the end of October."
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the compromise measure proposed late Monday by Shuster was a sign that the era of short-term HTF extensions is coming to an end.
"We're pleased that they seem to agree with us that a multi-year highway bill is important," Cornyn said. "It looks like we've got the House thoroughly engaged, so now it's not just a question of this bill or nothing. Perhaps we could come up with something even better by collaborating with our House colleagues."
The DRIVE Act provides $319 billion of discretionary outlays from the HTF with the aid of the offsets and $40 billion per year from the federal gasoline tax and other levies dedicated to transportation, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The $46 billion of general revenue transfers over three years would be offset over 10 years with $18 billion of reduced spending and $27 billion of increased revenues, CBO said.
