WASHINGTON - The US Senate approved a bipartisan two-year blueprint for transportation Wednesday on a vote of 74 to 22 that gives states greater spending flexibility, allows the government to set minimum safety standards for subways, and buys time to find a funding solution for a system on the verge of bankruptcy.
The $109 billion bill was approved 17 days before funding and authority to collect the gas tax that support it are due to expire. After efforts to move a House bill stalled last week, the Senate bill may be the only chance for legislation to reach the White House in time.
“On March 31, if we don’t act on this transportation bill, everything will come to a screeching halt,’’ said Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat.
The Senate bill boils down the number of federal transportation programs from about 90 to fewer than 30, gives states money for projects that ease congestion and air pollution, increases highway safety funding, cuts red tape that delays projects, and expands a program that provides loans and encourages private investment.
It also mandates for the first time that US safety standards be set for transit systems, regulation that has been pressed for by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, since the 2009 Metrorail crash in which nine people died.
Though the massive bill reshapes transportation programs and priorities, it does not resolve the most pressing issue: how to meet the financial demands of replacing systems nationwide that are reaching the end of their life span.
Washington Post