With the deadline for approval of the federal transportation bill fast approaching and an agreement yet to be found the trucking industry will welcome news that transportation funding will be extended for two weeks until December 4th. This extension will hopefully improve the likelihood of the new bill being adopted and eliminate the risk of federal funding being frozen.
The trucking sector and our entire freight industry including hot shot trucking services have spent the bulk of 2015 waiting for a long-term federal transportation bill to be tabled and it is hoped that the two-week extension will provide sufficient time to complete negotiations on the long-awaited bill.
There is optimism in Washington D.C. according to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.):
“The House and Senate are making good progress in resolving differences between their respective multi-year surface transportation reauthorization proposals. The conference committee needs the time necessary to meet in public, complete negotiations, and produce a final measure that helps improve America’s infrastructure. This clean extension provides time for that process to occur and for the House and Senate to vote on the final legislation, without shutting down transportation programs and projects in the meantime.”
It is hoped that December will therefore see the government passing the first long-term transportation funding bill in a decade as opposed to shorter extensions and stopgap funding, the current proposal houses the framework for six years of funding. The national transportation infrastructure and completion of more expansive projects should each benefit with the passage of an agreed funding plan. We'll have more updates on the hot shot trucking blog in the coming weeks.
