House set to proceed with 22-day highway patch to give more time on long-term bill

The U.S. House late Friday unveiled a short-term highway funding bill that would extend highway appropriations for just 22 days beyond the current highway funding stopgap put in place in July. Current funding expires Oct. 29, though the Highway Trust Fund has a little change left in its purse to last slightly beyond that.

The House’s new short-term funding bill would extend that date to Nov. 20, 2015, giving lawmakers three more weeks to try to work out a longer-term measure.

The House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee late last week referred to the full House a six-year, $325 bill that would remove CSA data from public view, along with change driver drug testing protocol and give under-21 CDL holders the chance to drive interstate.

A similar Senate bill passed in July, the DRIVE Act, would implement the same trucking reforms. The Senate and House bills in sum, however, are different bills, and the two chambers would have to work out their differences before being able to send a long-term highway funding measure to the White House.

Another stopgap would be the third this calendar year and the 35th in the last decade.