Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and David Vitter (R-La.) also supported the bill as a bipartisan way to funded needed infrastructure programs through 2013.
The bill, S. 1813, funds the federal highway program at $39.1 billion in 2012, and $39.8 billion in 2013. According to a summary of the bill, it would level-fund highway programs plus inflation for the next two years.
It also finds budget savings by consolidating dozens of programs and eliminating earmarks.