House and Senate Conferees Press Forward on Long-term Highway Bill

Members of the House and Senate transportation "conference committee" will meet this week to reconcile each chamber's version of the multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill known as the DRIVE Act. Even though the meeting is more procedural in nature, conference committee staff have already begun working behind the scenes to hash out differences between the two bills. This expedited process will hopefully enable Congress to pass a final bill for President Obama’s signature into law immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday.

The current extension for Highway Trust Fund authority expires on Friday, November 20, making another short-term extension certain. To avoid a shutdown of highway programs, the House passed by voice vote on Monday another two-week extension of highway and transit authority through Friday, December 4.

Funding levels and agreement on the pay-fors in the bill are still under negotiations. The Senate bill provides six years of authorization, but with only three years of funding. The House agreed to accept most of the Senate pay-fors and added another 40 billion in funding by tapping into the Federal Reserve capital surplus. If all of the pay-fors are agreed to, then the final surface transportation reauthorization would have enough funding for a five or six-year bill depending on the exact levels of funding.

NRMCA had joined the Transportation Construction Coalition in a letter to House and Senate leadership asking for increased spending levels in the final bill even if that means a shortening the length of the bill. NRMCA also joined the Highway Materials Group in sending a letter to House and Senate conferees requesting that our industry’s top legislative priorities be preserves in conference.