A day before Congress left for its August recess, the Senate on Thursday night approved the House’s $11 billion extension of federal highway funding through May.
The Senate voted 81-13 in favor of the stopgap highway measure. The bill, which replenishes the Highway Trust Fund, will keep about 6,000 state highway and transit projects rolling into next spring.
The measure now goes to President Obama for his signature.
Democrats in the Senate had been working to shorten the timeline for the highway bill. On July 29, the Senate voted to amend the House’s bill and change the funding end-date from May to this coming December in order to push the conversation for a long-term transportation plan.
The House refused and sent the measure back to the Senate with the May 2015 date, where the bill was passed on July 31.
