The bill now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature.
"While this bill includes some good transportation policies, the way we pay for these policies is unsustainable and irresponsible, offering little more than a grab bag of budget gimmicks that will actually increase our deficit in the long run", he said.
The bill easily passed with bipartisan support, but of the 65 dissenters, all were Republicans.
Lawmakers have also taken money away from commercial banks, cutting the dividend rate on payments they receive from the Federal Reserve. The committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Peter DeFazio of OR, called the measure "historic" but cautioned that "it is a starting point, not the end". Instead, the bill relies on a hodgepodge of extra funding, including selling oil from the country's reserve, increasing fines that automakers and railroads can face, tapping a rainy-day fund in the Federal Reserve, reducing a divdend payment to commercial banks, and allowing the Internal Revenue Service to hire private debt collection firms to collect back taxes.
One provision creates the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway program, a competitive grant program that will provide transportation money for major national or regional projects.
A big shortcoming in the bill, though, is how it is all financed. "Instead, they should raise the gas tax or find another permanent financing source if they want to spend more".
Williams back on air for NBC News with LA school closures
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Rivera said the federal funds are for capital improvements only, and won't help with the city's maintenance issues. Banking officials said that banks shouldn't be asked to foot the bill for highways and bridges. Customs fees will be indexed to inflation, and the money will be used to help offset the cost of highway and transit programs.
Crawford added, "Our office has been in talks with (the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department) about adding safety features which are long overdue, especially since the road has already been operating like an interstate for around 15 years".
Auto safety advocates applauded some of the new safety standards but said the bill had setbacks as well, such as a measure that keeps secret federal safety scores for trucking companies. Industry officials said the government's methodology is unfair. She introduced a provision requiring rental auto agencies to fix faulty vehicles under recall orders before renting them to the public. The study will look at driver training, passenger capacity levels for different age groups, special needs student operations, bus inspection standards, vehicle age requirements, best practices and public access to bus inspection results and crash records. One provision would open up more roads to Wisconsin logging trucks.
The 1,300-page bill authorizes $281 billion through the Highway Trust Fund and $24 billion through annual appropriations that lawmakers could decide not to supply in a given year, Jeff Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation.
With regard to transportation, the multi-year reauthorization provides certainty for state and local governments to maintain and move forward with transportation projects, the American Soybean Association (ASA) said. Congress has passed three-dozen short-term extensions of federal transportation funding since the last four-year bill expired in 2009. That's why the bill will extend the I-11 designation from Las Vegas to Interstate 80, providing a connection between two major activity centers in the Silver State.
Dozens killed in Major Taliban Attack on Kandahar Airfield
