EPW Chairman Says It’s Time to Draft a Highway Bill

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the recent hearing on the reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund will be the last and that the committee is working to push out a long-term bill before the current extension expires in May, according to Politico.
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Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the recent hearing on the reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund will be the last and that the committee is working to push out a long-term bill before the current extension expires in May, according to Politico.

Sen. Inhofe said his team is meeting regularly with Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) staff and that he is “committed to meeting the deadline and getting this done without further extensions.”

Congress passed an $11 billion bailout of the Highway Trust Fund in July 2014 that also extended the current highway law until May 2015.

Sen. Inhofe said this bill would be similar to one passed by EPW in the past.

In May 2014, EPW released S. 2322, a transportation bill that sought to reauthorize the transportation law for six years at current funding levels plus inflation.  

Under S. 2322, spending on federal-aid highway programs would have grown from $38.4 billion in 2015 to $42.6 billion in 2020. Other key provisions included a formula-based freight program that would provide funds to all states to improve goods movements in key corridors and the expansion of flexibility for both rural and urban areas to designate key freight corridors that match regional goods movement on roads beyond the Primary Freight Highway Network.

 

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