Bill would extend highway, transit funding law until July

Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced a bill to extend the surface transportation funding programs until July. The current law, known as MAP-21, expires May 31.

Although MAP-21 will expire at month's end, the Highway Trust Fund is expected to have sufficient funds to reimburse states for projects through sometime in July, said the senators, who are the top Democrats on the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. Their bill also calls on Congress to complete work on a long-term authorization of surface transportation funding legislation.

"Aligning the expiration of transportation programs with the funding available in the Highway Trust Fund rightly keeps Congress’s focus on finding a responsible long-term solution this summer for this critical program," Carper said in a press release. "Time and again — six times over the past 10 years — Congress has kicked the can down the road and done a short-term patch, rather than made the hard but necessary choices to responsibly fund the Highway Trust Fund."