Senate Passes Six-Year, $295 Billion Highway Bill
he Senate passed a $295 billion six-year highway bill Tuesday afternoon by an 89-11 margin, and the spending level could lead to a potential White House veto.
The House passed its own $283.9 billion highway measure in March that was in line with President Bush's budget guidelines for highway funding. When the House and Senate pass different versions of the same legislation, the bills must go to conference in order to craft one compromise measure.
The administration, through the Office of Management and Budget and through Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, has said repeatedly that the president would veto any compromise package sent to him that is more than the House-passed spending level.
Absent from both bills are any provisions codifying the federal hours-of-service rules for truck drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had sought provisions to make its revised hours’ rules permanent in order to avoid litigation, but could not persuade either body to include such language.
The most recent extension of the highway bill expires on May 31. The last piece of legislation authorizing highway funding expired in September 2003 and has been extended six times since.
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