The U.S. Senate, by voice vote, approved the short-term funding measure approved by the House of Representatives last week to keep the Highway Trust Fund viable until July 31, 2015. The measure will now go to the President’s desk for his signature.

Whether Congress will be able to pass a long-term funding is uncertain. As reported by Better Roads,

“I’m serving notice here,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Friday. “This 60-day extension will go through, I understand that. But from this point forward it’s not going to be automatic anymore. …It’s time for the Republican speaker and the Republican majority leader to lead.”

The Hill reported that Republicans are expected to pass another patch before the new deadline in July to extend funding through the end of the year. The next patch would mark about two dozen short-term transportation patches in the last 12 years.

As previously posted on Conduit Street, congressional transportation authorization expired in 2009.  Since that time, Congress has passed a number of short-term measures to continue funding the trust fund.

Better Roads also provides a summary of the legislation, the Highway Transportation Funding Act of 2015.