Late July 8th, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp proposed a $10.5 billion, eight-month transportation funding bill. It is the latest proposal to temporarily fill the gap in funding for the Highway Trust Fund until after mid-term elections. What makes this latest proposal unique is that it would fund the program until May 2015, or until after the next Congress begins. On July 15th, the House passed the bill, and now the Senate is about to act. Additionally, the White House endorsed the House bill on July 14th.
Republican members of Congress and President Obama continue to rule out a gas tax increase as an option for funding a new bill. This latest proposal would off-set the $10.5 billion using revenue from federal pension changes and an additional fee on travelers at U.S. Cutoms facilities. An additional $1 billion would be taken from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.
At this time there is no indication that any of the proposals would remove language from the last bill (MAP-21) encouraging the use of design-build project delivery.