Sen. Dick Durbin (D–IL) recently stated that unless Congress acts on a solution for transportation funding by the end of July, funds for mass transit agencies and states will be stopped or slowed down, jeopardizing jobs and infrastructure projects throughout the U.S.
Two months ago, the Senate passed a measure to stop the major transportation and infrastructure programs in the U.S. from expiring through July. On July 31, the Highway Trust Fund is scheduled to expire, and Congress still has not reached a long-term solution.
“In less than two weeks, the authority to keep our country’s major transportation and infrastructure programs will expire,” Durbin said. “We cannot patch our way to prosperity with temporary, short-term answers to long-term problems. In just the past six years, there have been more than 30 extensions of surface transportation programs. This is not the way to run the federal highway and transit program.
"The Highway Trust Fund provides the funding for projects and supports good-paying jobs in the Metro East and across the country," he said. "The men and women building our nation’s roads and bridges deserve to know whether they’ll be paid on time and do not need another manufactured crisis to disrupt their lives.”
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