Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled H.R. 3038, an $8.1 billion plan to fund highway and rail transit projects through the end of 2015. The bill would be paid for by extending an airport security fee increase and various tax rule changes.
Congress faces a July 31 deadline to renew federal transportation spending authority before infrastructure funding comes to a screeching halt. The short-term extension allows lawmakers five more months to negotiate a longer-term bill, funded largely by repatriation of approximately $2 trillion in U.S. corporate profits held overseas.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), who introduced the measure, and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) said that they would prefer a longer, six-year transportation bill. However, lawmakers have not been able to agree on funding the nearly half-billion dollar cost needed to move forward with the long-term measure.
"This country needs a long-term plan to fix our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, and this bill gives us our best shot at completing one this year," Ryan and Shuster said in a statement.
