Just before the holiday break, Congress passed a very short extension of legislation that allows federal transportation money to flow to the states for various road and bridge projects. They were supposed to pass a long term bill before the holiday break.
"It is funded for three years in the Senate and the House still needs to come up with a funding mechanism. Nevertheless I am confident that is going to happen." says Maine Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that deals with transportation issues. "We should not be doing these short term fixes on the highway bill because it makes it so difficult for states to plan their transportation projects and it increases costs in the long run."
The budget authorization runs out December 4th so Collins says among all of the bills that need to be addressed, that is at the top of the list.
