Three-week highway funding bill expected to pass

Three-week highway funding bill expected to pass

Transportation advocates have lamented that Congress has passed only temporary transportation spending bills usually two-year measures since 2005. The latest patch is just three weeks. But the House passed it specifically to give lawmakers a little more time to finish work on a six-year measure passed by the House Transportation Committee a few days earlier. Senate leaders said they would pass the three-week bill, and the White House has said the president would sign it.

The three-week measure will extend the October 29 expiration date for funding to November 20. The six-year bill sets aside $325 billion — $261 billion for highways, $55 billion for transit and $9 billion for safety programs. But the bill requires Congress to pass a new bill in three years to fund the last three years of the measure.