House overwhelmingly backs 5-year transportation bill

The House approved the measure in a bipartisan 359-65 vote, with all 65 “no” votes coming from Republicans. Senate action is expected to follow shortly.

After a seemingly endless series of short-term funding patches, Congress passed a long-term transportation funding bill late Thursday that will give states the predictable funding stream they have always been calling for.

The bill, which provides funding to build and upgrade the nation’s road and bridges, also reauthorizes the Export-Import bank.

According to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Fast Act “reforms and strengthens transportation programs, refocuses on national priorities, provides long-term certainty and more flexibility for states and local governments, streamlines project approval processes, and maintains a strong commitment to safety”. The $70 billion “pay-fors” would close a $16 billion deficit in annual transportation funding that has developed as USA cars have become more fuel-efficient.

“Although this highway bill will be longer-lasting than the ones that have been enacted in the past several years, it continues the trend of papering over the shortfall temporarily with gimmicks and general revenue savings”, wrote Adam Rosenberg, a policy analyst with the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Ventura County Transportation Commission Executive Director Darren Kettle also applauded the five-year bill that allows for planning.

Carper has sought a gradual increase in the federal gas tax to help boost the dwindling Highway Trust Fund. Legislation he proposed in August would raise gas and diesel taxes by 4 cents a year for four years and then index them to inflation.

The trucking industry was able to persuade lawmakers to order the government to remove trucking company safety scores from a public website despite opposition from safety advocates.

The bill also includes $199 million to help commuter railroads install Positive Train Control, a system that transportation experts have said could have prevented the Philadelphia crash.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association championed the provision as the best way to ensure reaching consumers in case of tire safety recalls, but the Tire Industry Association said the mandatory registration system as now written is both hopelessly outdated and unfairly punitive to independent dealers. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has already told us that when this bill expires, the Highway Trust Fund will be $100 billion in the hole.

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, or FAST Act, is the first long-term transportation bill to pass Congress since 2005. The liability cap would rise to $295 million, up from $200 million – an amount that personal-injury lawyers said would not cover the damages from the devastating Philadelphia wreck.

-Cuts the dividend rate the Fed pays to large banks by tying the rate, now at 6 percent, to a much lower floating rate for 10-year treasury notes.