Highways, Bridges and Roads

The bicameral agreement on a new surface transportation bill was released early Thursday morning by the House Rules Committee.

The bill (H.R. 4348) “provides funding for the federal-aid highway program through fiscal 2014 at current funding levels with a small inflationary adjustment,” the 47-member committee that convened on the measure for two months said in a joint statement attached to its report.

Lawmakers had to hoped to release the text of the compromise highway bill by Wednesday evening to clear the way for a vote on the measure by Friday. Because a draft of the measure was not completed until early Thursday morning, however, House GOP leaders will either have to waive their three-day rule for reviewing legislation before a vote or delay passage until Saturday.

The package likely represents the last significant burst of legislating before the election.

If Thursday were a pizza, it would have everything on it.

The House — fresh off an eerily bipartisan picnic at the White House Wednesday — is expected to pass an historic resolution on Thursday finding U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

The bitter, partisan debate over Holder will be enhanced by the Supreme Court's expected and even more historic healthcare ruling, which will prompt many members to cheer the result, and many others to warn that it could undermine the very fabric of the nation.

Along the way, the House and Senate will be prepping a bill to extend federal highway programs, keep student loan rates low, and reauthorize the national flood insurance program. And the House may take up a 2013 spending bill, and some maritime security bills.

Then — somehow or other — members of Congress will find time to hold their annual congressional baseball game for charity. And probably, it will go into extra innings.

The House late Wednesday approved 10 amendments to the 2013 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development spending bill, before adjourning just before 11:15 p.m.

Still up for a vote on Thursday are proposals to cut $500 million from the bill, and prohibit the government from requiring GPS tracking devices in cars, among others.

The House Republican who led negotiations for a deal reached Wednesday on a new transportation bill said the compromise would be the "jobs bill for the 112th Congress."

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) told reporters that the House-Senate agreement on transportation funding would create more jobs than any other piece of legislation being considered by Congress.

"It's been a long, tough battle, but I think this is going to be the bill to put more people back to work than anything Congress does in the next two years," he said.

A Democratic member on the committee of lawmakers that negotiated a bicameral agreement on a new transportation bill said Wednesday that members of his party would support the emerging agreement.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said details of the deal that were emerging on Wednesday looked like they were agreeable enough to House Democrats for the minority party to support the compromise measure.

"Given the fact that we now have hard info, this looks like a good, solid bill that will put people back to work," DeFazio said. "It doesn't do violence to things we care about, so I think we can support it."

The Democratic chairwoman of the committee of lawmakers that has conferenced on new transportation bill for two months said Wednesday that the apparent agreement between the House and Senate on the measure was "a victory for the middle class, for business, and for the environment.

“I am so glad that House Republicans met Democrats halfway, as Senate Republicans did months ago," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in a statement released by her office.
 
“The bill is funded at current levels, and it will protect and create three million jobs," she said. "This job creation is the critical focus of Democrats, because we know that the unemployment rate in construction is at an unacceptable level."

House Speaker Boehner said the deal would also include a one-year extension of current student loan interest rates.

A Senate GOP aide cautioned that “nothing is final until Boehner gets a firm count in his caucus. “

Boehner struck an optimistic tone, signaling the House GOP is tentatively on board with Reid and McConnell’s student-loan deal.