Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has proposed an "immediate" 18-month reauthorization of the federal highway program that also would infuse the faltering Highway Trust Fund with enough money to avoid a shortfall in August.
LaHood said in a June 17 statement that he had briefed congressional lawmakers on the trust fund's problems and said that if money isn't added to the fund, "the trust fund will run out of money as soon as late August and states will be in danger of losing the vital transportation funding they need and expect."