Senate committee advances transportation funding bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced a transportation funding bill that lacks some key trucking provisions included in the House version.

On Thursday, July 25, the committee voted 28-1 to approve the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development’s appropriation bill for fiscal year 2025.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the bill will help improve the nation’s roads and bridges.

“This bill strengthens our efforts at the federal level to address the housing crisis, invests in improving transportation infrastructure in communities across the country and will help keep our country moving forward,” Murray said.

Notable absences

The Senate version fails to include a pair of trucking provisions to provide truck parking funding and to prevent a speed limiter mandate.

On July 10, the House Appropriations Committee advanced its transportation funding bill. That version allocated $200 million for truck parking projects and prohibited the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from moving forward with a rulemaking to require speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles.

A lack of truck parking has been at crisis levels for years, and truck drivers are largely opposed to speed limiters, citing the dangers of speed differentials between cars and trucks.

What’s in the bill?

The Senate bill provides $110 billion in total funding for the Department of Transportation, of which $81.6 billion is from obligation limitations and $28.5 billion is from discretionary funding.

Specifically, the bill provides $550 million for the RAISE Grant program. When combined with the $1.5 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act advanced appropriations, the RAISE Grant program will see $2.05 billion in total funding in fiscal year 2025.

Additionally, the bill provides $63.171 billion for federal-aid highways, which includes $61.314 billion in funding from the Highway Trust Fund and an additional $1.118 billion for Highway Infrastructure Programs. The bill provides $400 million for the competitive bridge-bundling grant program, $150 million for the Tribal Transportation Program, $100 million for the Appalachian Development Highway System, $25 million for the Active Transportation program and $20 million for Scenic Byways. LL