As Congress recessed for a pre-election campaign push, lawmakers could point to several major construction bills that passed in the session’s final weeks and were signed into law. As usual, the House and Senate left much unfinished. Even a couple of the measures enacted—aviation programs and 2009 spending—only extend until spring. That means legislators will have to return to those issues next year.
Lawmakers had hoped to leave on Sept. 26, but the desire to finish a financial rescue bill kept them in session until that measure passed on Oct. 3. The rescue bill capped the Capitol Hill action, but there were other major construction-related legislative accomplishments.