GOP senator: Finishing long-term highway bill is ‘important’

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Wednesday that is “important” for the Senate to pass a long-term transportation funding bill this week, even though the chamber has already said it will accept a temporary patch from the House to prevent an interruption in the nation’s road funding. 

“Even though the House has gone home, they all agree that we need a good long-term bill as soon they get back,” he said during a speech on the Senate floor. 

“That’s why we have a motion before us for a short-term delay so that they’ll have time to do it,” Inhofe continued. “So we’ll have a good bill for them we’ve worked on for several months now. It passed out of our committee unanimously. Every Republican, every Democrat voted for it.” 

{mosads}Lawmakers are facing a Friday deadline for renewing federal transportation spending. The Department of Transportation has warned that it will have to cut back on payments to states and local governments unless Congress reaches an agreement on an extension. 

The Senate voted 65-35 on Wednesday morning to end debate on their long-term highway bill, clearing the way for a potential Thursday vote on final passage.

The House is expected to vote on a temporary three-month patch on Wednesday and then leave town without taking up the Senate’s long-term highway bill. 

The Senate’s acceptance of the House’s three-month highway funding proposal sets up a punt on infrastructure funding that will extend debate about paying for the nation’s road and transit projects into October. 

Congress has not passed a transportation funding bill that lasts longer than two years since a 2005 measure expired in 2009.  

Inhofe, who is chairman of the Senate’s Environment & Public Works Committee, lamented the string of highway patches, even as he said he is prepared to accept the House’s latest temporary fix. 

“You can’t do big projects with a three-month extensions, four-month extensions, one-year extensions even,” he said. 

“We’ve gone through 33 short-term extensions since the [2005] bill was passed,” Inhofe continued. “You have the problem as not having any of the big projects. Anyone knows that is a big problem.”