Senate negotiators reach highway bill deal; action delayed

Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, is so hopeful about the economic benefits the plant can bring to his home state that he inserted a provision in a large agriculture bill now being considered by the Senate that would protect hemp farmers from federal interference.

The bill would also clarify that data stored in vehicle event data recorders – better known as black boxes – remains the property of the driver and specifies under what conditions the data may be accessed by law enforcement. Barbara Boxer of California have reached an agreement on a transportation bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wouldn’t rule out Tuesday the possibility of a floor vote on a federal religious freedom bill that critics say would enable anti-LGBT discrimination.

In fact, Democrats voted to block starting debate until they had time to pour through the multi-faceted bill that provides funding for highways, bridges and other infrastructure projects and that also includes thorny transportation policy changes that have been hard to resolve.

McConnell said both leaders would discuss the measure with their respective conferences.

The Senate is scheduled this week to take up legislation to keep those dollars flowing beyond July 31, but whether the result will be another short-term fix or a more elusive multi-year plan is yet to be seen.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democratic leader, said, “I can’t remember a time where I have been asked in all my years in the Congress to vote yes ahead of time on a bill we haven’t seen, and there are no amendments” allowed.

“Read my lips”, McConnell said at a Bullitt County Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Kentucky. More than 30 times over the past six years, Congress has mustered the money only for short-term extensions of the federal highway trust fund, the equivalent of repeatedly putting $5 of gas in an empty tank. The legislation, which would cost a total of about $50 billion over three years, would not raise any taxes. That’s when authority for transportation programs expires, eliminating the Transportation Department’s ability to process promised highway and transit aid payments to states.

McConnell said Monday there are millions of Americans who “would love to have a woman president”.

GOP leaders and aides said they planned to allow amendments to the highway bill beyond just Ex-Im, though any one senator can stymie those attempts. That was an apparent criticism of Senate negotiators who had decided to authorize highway spending for six years but come up with only enough money to last for three years.

Unable to agree on another funding source, lawmakers have passed 34 short-term extensions since 2009 that have kept transportation programs teetering on the edge of insolvency.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, a supporter of the reauthorization, said last week that she’s still eyeing the transportation bill, although she said she was open to a stand-alone vote.