House Passes Continuing Resolution to Fund Government, Extend Transportation Programs

Late Tuesday, the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through December 11 and extend several critical federal programs, including the FAST Act and the National Flood Insurance Program, for one year. Initially introduced and passed by the House Rules Committee on Monday, opposition from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republicans and some Democrats over lack of aid to the farm credit program led to last minute negotiations and final passage of a slightly modified bill that includes additional funding for child and nutrition programs as well as funding for the farm credit program. The legislation now moves to the Senate.

Despite the House passage of H.R. 8337, without action from the Senate and the signature of the President, the FAST Act will expire on September 30 and the nation’s federal transportation programs will lapse. NRMCA and our allied associations are continuing to advocate in Washington for Congress and the president to come together and pass a one-year extension of America’s highway programs.

NRMCA has joined our allied associations in sending a letter to Congress and has set up a grassroots action alert for members of the industry to send Congress and the White House a message. If you have not yet acted to send your representative, senators and the president a message, please click here to do so today. We are asking Congress to extend the FAST Act for one year, ensure that the Highway Trust Fund has adequate funding, and provide emergency relief for state departments of transportation (DOT) to reinstate canceled and delayed projects.

H.R. 8337 does two of these three things: it extends the FAST Act for one year and also protects the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, but the bill does not include the additional stimulus funding that stakeholders had been petitioning Congress to include in a FAST Act extension or COVID-19 relief package.

The House bill’s one-year extension of the FAST Act includes a $13.6 billion transfer from the general fund into the Highway Trust Fund to keep the trust fund solvent and provide $10.2 billion to the Highway Account and $3.2 billion to the Mass Transit Account. There is still time to urge Congress and the President to include additional relief for state DOTs in the final package.

For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.