The Senate has passed a long-awaited reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, avoiding another shutdown like the one that occurred last summer.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is poised, perhaps as early as this week, to send lawmakers a plan to apply the state’s 6% sales tax to diesel and gasoline purchases.

Provisions for heavier, longer trucks contained in a transportation reauthorization bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday did not survive the bill’s first hearing.

Trucks now limited to 80,000 pounds on interstate highways could run as heavy as 97,000 pounds under a proposal contained in the long-awaited transportation reauthorization bill set to be unveiled Tuesday by House Republicans.

Several key air and ground transportation issues are pressing before Congress, but lawmakers have only a few working days this month in which to address them.

The Senate Commerce Committee has set Dec. 14 to hear three bills introduced this week as part of the two-year transportation reauthorization package moving through the Senate.

The North Carolina State Senate has killed a proposal to cap the state’s 35-cent tax on gasoline and diesel, which is about to rise sharply, by voting to end its session.

House Republicans said they plan to introduce a five-year highway funding bill that would be paid for by expanded domestic oil drilling.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has sent a letter to his counterpart in the Senate congratulating her on the introduction of a surface transportation bill but taking issue with her two-year approach.