Congress went back into session this week with a lot of legislation to pass in the fall session before adjourning for 2015. The bill that’s most important to NARP is the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act, a major transportation effort that includes provisions from the Senate’s rail reform bill. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said in Politico that it “wasn’t happy news” to hear this week that DOT now predicts the Highway Trust Fund won’t need another refill until the last few months of fiscal 2016. “If we don't get this done when we're scheduled to, we're going to miss a construction season, an entire year. ... I like a sense of urgency," he said. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx agreed, noting that chances for enactment grow slimmer the longer Congress pushes off action on a long-term fix for the trust fund’s perpetual shortfall. Continue reading...
