Over the weekend I was talking to a leading transportation specialist who, while drinking at the time, soberly said, "Transportation policy in this nation does not currently exist. There are putative policy notions. There is no extant policy, sustainable funding, or credible vision for policy or funding."
According to The Hill:
Even as they maintain that they want to strike a major deal in the next few months, House Republicans still face a number of obstacles in reaching an agreement with a skeptical Senate before the end of 2015.
Lawmakers currently have an Oct. 29 deadline for extending highway programs, and had been under the impression that the Highway Trust Fund could easily be replenished through mid-December.
If the House is unable to make progress on both its international tax plan and highway policy in the coming months, the chamber could be forced to accept a Senate highway bill passed this summer that House leaders have repeatedly said is riddled with deficiencies. The Senate bill authorizes six years worth of highway policy, but only includes funding for three years.
Already, the House Transportation Committee has had to put off its plans to consider a six-year highway bill, and have not announced a timeline for when it will take up a measure — raising the chances that the House will be unable to pass its own long-term bill and then hash out a compromise with the Senate by the October deadline.
Last month Politico published a special edition on transportation (that I just noticed). See The Agenda: Transportation.
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