The current stopgap measure passed in late October expires Friday, Nov. 20. Members of the House and Senate began meeting this week in a conference committee tasked with producing a unified long-term bill that can get through both chambers of Congress. The Senate likely will take up the House’s short-term patch in the coming days.
Each chamber has passed this year a long-term highway funding plan, and the conference committee is tasked with reconciling the differences between the two. Lawmakers may also be altering some of the trucking-specific language in the bill, such as amending language to so-called carrier “hiring standards” in an attempt to fix a provision that could negatively impact hundreds of thousands of small carriers.
Also up for consideration may be an amendment that would, according to the amendment’s opposition, put a dent in driver pay reform efforts by driver unions and small trucker advocacy groups.
