Senate Passes New Transportation Bill ($100k Broker Bond Provision Included)

Today, the United States Senate passed, S. 1813, the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act" or MAP-21 on a vote of 74-22. The bill will fund our nation's transportation and infrastructure projects for the next two years at $109 billion. The TIA supported Fighting Fraud in Transportation Act was included in an amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Reid and was accepted to be included in the text of the legislation. The bill will now be sent over to the United States House of Representatives for consideration.

The House is looking to pass a short-term extension that would extend funding six weeks or so to give Republican leadership more time to amass support within the party. This would setup an earlier May debate on an amended version of H.R. 7, "the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012".

Although the bill has passed the Senate nothing can become law until the two chambers agree in Conference and the President signs the bill into law.