Long-term Transportation Bill Heads to Conference

By Taylor Garland
Nov 05 2015 |
I-95 South at Rush Hour | Photo via Flickr User Will Fisher

The House and Senate must reconcile two versions of the infrastructure bill by Nov. 20.

The House on Thursday passed a six-year, $340 billion surface transportation bill – FINALLY. This is the first long-term transportation bill approved in the House since 2005, which Politico points out was the same year that YouTube was founded.

But the work isn’t over yet.

The Senate passed their version of the long-term bill back in July. The two chambers must reconcile the two versions of the bill in conference. And the clock is already ticking.

There are just 15 days left before the short, very short (think: three weeks) patch runs out on Nov. 20. And to further complicate the tight timeline, the House is out next week for a scheduled recess.

Still missing from both of the bills: funding. The bills include six years of policy, but only three years of funding. In order to solve our infrastructure problems and put America back to work, long-term and fully-funded must be a part of the bill.

A six-year transportation bill of at least $100 billion annually would support upwards of 2.18 million American jobs and rebuild our underperforming infrastructure, according to researchers at Duke University.

That said, progress is progress. We encourage the House and Senate to work together during conference to complete a long-term, if partially funded, surface transportation bill before time runs out.