Senate

Boxer: House should delay break for highway bill

by Jordain Carney - 07/29/15 3:46 PM ET

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that the House should delay its August break to stay in Washington and hash out an agreement on a long-term highway bill.

“We need a long-term bill, and I say to the Speaker, don’t go home, and I say to the majority whip over there, my friend from California, don’t go home,” she said. “The Republican leadership, they know they control the schedule. They should cancel their recess and stay in an extra week, and in that extra week we can work together.”

{mosads}Boxer’s comments come as the House is expected to vote later Wednesday on a three-month extension of federal highway funding ahead of the end-of-the-week deadline to avoid a gap in infrastructure spending.

Senators had hoped to pass their six-year bill by Wednesday in an effort to get it to the House before they left town for the August recess, but Republican leadership in the lower chamber has shown little interest in taking up the Senate bill.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said earlier Wednesday that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) referred to the Senate bill “with a very derogatory word that starts with the letter ‘s.’ ”

Boxer also weighed in on the remark from the Senate floor, saying that Boehner’s comment, which she declined to repeat because it “would be breaking the rules,” “really took me aback.”

“Why on earth would you oppose a bill that is so bipartisan, that got 65 votes, that the Republican leader has put his name too? Why would you do that?” she asked. “Another questions is… where is the House bill?”

House lawmakers are expected to work on a longer-term highway bill. If they can pass a proposal, it would be conferenced with the Senate’s bill later this year.

Boxer called on Boehner to specify what he doesn’t like about the Senate bill so lawmakers could try to reach an agreement on a proposal that could pass both chambers, adding “it is easy, you know, to throw darts at somebody else.”

Tags Barbara Boxer Boehner Harry Reid John Boehner