Highway-Transit Bills' Progress Slows in House, Senate
Conference Committee
Hansen expects the measures eventually will clear the House and Senate. He says, "Will it happen by March 31? It could, but they may need a smaller extension."
The sooner the two bills are approved, the quicker a House-Senate conference committee can begin to reconcile the measures' many differences. That would produce a final long-term bill and end transportation construction firms' protracted funding by stopgaps. Hansen says of the House and Senate measures, "These are two tickets to paradise."
Pam Whitted, National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association senior vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs, says, "I think, ultimately, you're going to end up with something that is closer to the Senate bill … because it's bipartisan."


