Posted June 2, 2015

Highway funding received another temporary patch on May 29 when President Obama signed a two-month extension of into law. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 extends infrastructure funding through the end of July, reported The Hill. 

There were several weeks of failed negotiations as law makers tried to find about $11 billion to fund the Highway Trust Fund through the end of this year. This resulted in the two-month extension signed last week. House and Senate leaders were unable to agree on offsets that would pay for the program through December. Had they been able to fund through December, the coming months were intended to provide Congress time to form a larger tax reform package to pay for a multi-year surface transportation bill, noted the American Public Transportation Association after Congress passed the short extension earlier this month. 

The stopgap measure represents the 33rd temporary fix for road project funding since 2008, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest noted, leading to some uncertainty among states for major highway plans.

Obama was expected to sign the measure before a May 31 deadline, which would have caused an abrupt halt in infrastructure projects. Members of both parties have acknowledged a tricky path forward to secure about $15 billion a year to fund a highway bill for as long as six years.

Click here for the article posted in The Hill.