Senate Agrees on Path Forward For Trust Fund Bill
Senators have reached an agreement on how to debate a highway funding bill, setting up floor votes on the measure early next week, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.
According to the agreement, the Senate will consider four amendments before senators are allowed to vote on passage of a House bill that would approve nearly $11 billion to shore up the Highway Trust Fund through the end of May.
The amendments, sponsored by senior Democrats, propose scaling back on the pension-smoothing source of funding in the House bill and limit the duration of the bill from May to December. Pension smoothing allows companies to reduce required contributions to their retirement plans as a way of inflating their taxable income temporarily.
If the amendments are not adopted and the Senate passes the House bill as is, the legislation would advance to the White House for the president’s signature just days before a funding shortfall.
According to the Department of Transportation, the trust fund is poised to run out of money as early as next month. States depend on the fund to help cover the costs of transportation projects. An insolvent trust fund would prompt DOT to reduce reimbursements to the states, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx warned.
Nearly every major transportation organization has called on Congress to shore up the fund before August. American Trucking Associations on July 23 said it backs a proposal to provide a trust-fund patch through December in order to pass a long-term highway bill.
