HR 2353 Passed in House

As expected HR 2353, the two-month extension of Highway Fund spending until July 31^st passed by a largely bipartisan vote of 387 to 35. Earlier in the day a procedural move was made by Rep. Etsy (D,CT) to try to add an amendment requiring funding for positive train control for passenger rail. It was subsequently defeated on a straight party line vote of 182 to 241.

The bill will go to the Senate where it will very likely pass under the standard ‘without objection’ process. News reports have noted that the President has agreed to sign the bill when it gets to his desk. If the bill does not get passed in the Senate this week the State transportation projects funded by the Highway Fund will stop receiving funds on June 1^st.

Rules Committee Crafts Closed Rule on HR 2353

This evening, as part of a three bill rulemaking process the House Rules Committee established a closed rule for the consideration of HR 2353, the short term extension of Highway Fund based spending through July 31^st, 2015. The bill also extends the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Fund and the Hazardous Materials Training Grants at the current rate through the same date.

There will be one hour of debate on the bill and no amendments. There is every chance that the bill will be passed tomorrow.

Bills Introduced – 05-15-15

There were 48 bills introduced in the House on Friday (the Senate was not in session). Of those only two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 2353 To provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund, and for other purposes. Rep. Shuster, Bill [R-PA-9]

HR 2379 To prohibit the transportation of certain volatile crude oil by rail. Rep. Lowey, Nita M. [D-NY-17]

A copy of the text of HR 2353 [typo on bill # corrected 5-18-15 0900 CDT] is already available. In addition to extending the current spending authorization for transportation related programs funded by the Highway Trust fund through July 31^st, it would also extend the funding for various hazardous material training and response programs for the same period. This bill will be considered by the House Rules Committee on Monday and the full House on Tuesday.

It looks HR 2379 will be another bill that would attempt to reduce the risk of fires and explosions from crude oil train derailments by limiting the volatility of that crude.