Legislation to add $10.8 billion to the ailing Highway Trust Fund, which could keep the fund in the black into next spring, is moving ahead in Congress as the House passed the measure on July 15 by a strong 367-55 vote.
The House-approved trust-fund "patch" has the same bottom line as a measure that the Senate Finance Committee cleared on July 10. But the two bills use different mixes of revenue-raisers to offset the $10.8 billion that they would transfer to the trust fund from other sources, primarily the general fund.
The next step would be a Senate floor vote, either on the Finance Committee version or the House-passed bill.
国会正在与时钟竞争，在八月的休会前进行了短期信托基金修复。根据美国运输部的说法，信托基金的削弱公路帐户预计将在8月底左右出现赤字。
If no new revenue is found for the trust fund, DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx has said his department would have to slow down its aid reimbursements to state DOTs, starting on Aug. 11.
President Obama, in a July 14 speech at the Federal Highway Administration's research center in Virginia, said that if Congress doesn't save the trust fund, the consequences would be severe. He said nearly 700,000 jobs could be put at risk and more than 100,000 projects "could be slowed or stopped."
Brian Deery, senior director of the Associated General Contractors of America's highway and transportation division, is confident that Congress will stave off that dire outcome. "They're going to do a patch," he says. "There's no two ways about it."
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the prime author of the measure his chamber approved, said that the $10.8-billion trust-fund injection would provide enough money to keep the fund healthy through next May 31.
He also said the measure "gives the committee time to deliberate and produce a longer-term solution" for the trust fund.
In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on July 10 that his initial position was to go for a bill that would run only through Dec. 31. But then, Wyden added, after discussions with the committee's top Republican, Orrin Hatch (Utah), "It was clear that it would not be possible to reach a bipartisan agreement at less than $10 billion."
The committee ended up approving a $10.8-billion infusion.
Industry officials are no doubt relieved to see the congressional effort to keep the trust fund from falling into the red. But their bigger priority is a multi-year highway-transit reauthorization, which, they hope, would include additional revenue. Some in Congress say they will push for a long-term measure./
帕森斯·布林克霍夫（Parsons Brinckerhoff）高级副总裁凯茜·康纳（Cathy Connor）指出，除了其收入补丁外，众议院法案还具有在明年5月之前重新授权高速公路和公交计划的语言。但是参议院金融措施缺乏这一规定。当前的授权法，《 21世纪法案》的进步，将于9月30日到期。
康纳说，她了解参议院正在努力说服那里的关键立法者将短期信托基金法案限制在12月底。她说：“我不知道他们是否能做到这一点。”
AGC's Deery says that some states have reserve highway contract authority from past years that they can use for projects past Sept. 30. But he adds that, "A lot of states [are] going to err on the side of caution, as far as putting projects out."
Deery says, "Unless they know they've got the state funds, I think they're going to hold back."
Connor says that construction and transportation industry officials "still feel that a shorter extension is better" than one that lasts until the end of May. She adds, "Whether that shorter extension runs through December or perhaps very early into 2015, we want a short-term extension because we want to keep Congress's feet to the fire" to produce a longer authorization.
Pete Ruane, American Road & Transportation Builders Association CEO, said in a statement after the House and Senate committees approved their measures that his group appreciates those steps to avert a stoppage of federal transportation aid. But he added, "These actions must not be the latest punt-and-leave-the-stadium strategy that has plagued the federal surface transportation program for far too long."
鲁安（Ruane）呼吁国会和奥巴马政府在2014年底提出“长期和可持续的高速公路信托基金解决方案”。
年代tory updated on July 15 to include House vote, additional comments.
