President Obama signed into law a five-year, $305 billion highway bill, the same day that U.S road and transportation funding was scheduled to expire.
The newly passed law is funded by gas tax revenue and a package of $70 billion in offsets from other areas of the federal budget. The bill calls for spending approximately $205 billion on highways and $48 billion on transit projects over the next five years. It also reauthorizes the controversial Export-Import Bank’s expired charter until 2019.
The measure is the first long-term national transportation spending package in ten years. It follows a seemingly endless slew of temporary patches that began before Obama entered office.
"This bill is not perfect, but it is a commonsense compromise, and an important first step in the right direction," Obama said in a statement ahead of the bill signing on Friday.
"I look forward to signing this bill right away, so that we can put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and transit systems, reauthorize the Export-Import Bank that helps our companies compete around the world, and give local and state governments and employers the certainty they need to invest and hire for the long term," Obama continued.
