Carper Hails Senate Approval of Carper-Corker-Boxer Amendment to Transportation Bill

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate voted 66-31 to approve the Carper-Corker-Boxer Amendment to the Highway Transportation Funding Act of 2014 (H.R. 5021) and subsequently passed the modified package, sending it back House of Representatives for approval. The amended bill would force Congress to stop shirking its responsibility and pass a fully-funded long-term transportation bill this year.

“I am very proud of our bipartisan effort to pass this crucial amendment,” Sen. Carper said. “Senator Corker, Senator Boxer and I worked hard to reach across party lines and encourage our colleagues to do what’s right for our country. The Senate has now made a clear and undeniable statement in favor of action on a long-term transportation bill in this Congress. With the passage of our amendment, we’ve made a critical first step toward the goal of fixing the Highway Trust Fund and giving states, cities, and businesses across the country the certainty they’ve been asking for. We’ve kicked this can down the road eleven times since 2009 – it’s time we do the job we were sent to Washington to do. We have a lot of work in front of us to strike the principled compromise that will be needed to pass the multi-year bill. However with a December deadline, Congress has more than enough time to consider the variety of solutions available to us. I am confident this Congress can get it done and I will continue to fight to make sure we do.”

The Senate passed version of H.R. 5021:

• Extends federal transportation program authorizations through December 19, 2014 to ensure that Congress remains focused on the critical and urgent task of passing a fully-funded long-term solution to the Highway Trust Fund crisis before the end of the year;
• Provides sufficient funding to the Department of Transportation to reimburse states for highway and transit projects through December 2014;
• Strikes the pension smoothing provisions that generate revenue in the 10-year window that would likely cost taxpayers money in the long run, and;
• Includes revenue provisions from the Preserving America’s Transit and Highways (PATH) Act reported out of the Senate Finance Committee that contain bipartisan tax compliance measures, while omitting the pension smoothing gimmick. 

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