Top House and Senate leaders apparently came up short Tuesday on a last-ditch effort to revive stalled legislation to overhaul federal transportation programs — Congress' best bet for passage of a major jobs bill this year with prospects for passage now exceedingly dim before the November election.
After failing to agree on a long-range plan to keep federal highway and transit programs running, Congress on Thursday returned to one of its most tried-and-true tactics of the past year: It kicked the matter down the road by passing a stopgap funding measure.
The Senate voted Wednesday to overhaul transportation programs and keep aid flowing to thousands of construction projects while strengthening highway and auto safety.
The Senate easily passed a transportation bill Wednesday that breaks precedent by not relying solely on federal gas taxes to foot the bill for highway, infrastructure and public-transit projects nationwide.
House Republicans are rushing to rewrite their massive $260 billion transportation bill ahead of an end-of-March deadline to keep federal highway and infrastructure programs funded.
Mr. President, the country doesn't need another stimulus like the last one. The 2009 Recovery Act road and bridge initiative set the movement toward really improving the nation's transportation infrastructure back big-time.
Washington is broken, and families and small businesses across the country are feeling the effects - especially as a result of soaring gas and food prices, runaway health care costs, and a housing downturn that has cascaded throughout the economy. House Republicans have worked for over 16 months to expose how the Democratic majority's "tax, spend, and regulate" agenda is precisely the wrong approach during these difficult days.
Washington is broken, and families and small businesses across the country are feeling the effects — especially as a result of soaring gas and food prices, runaway health care costs, and a housing downturn that has cascaded throughout the economy. House Republicans have worked for over 16 months to expose how the Democratic majority's "tax, spend, and regulate" agenda is precisely the wrong approach during these difficult days.
