The nation’s highway program seems to be taken care of—for the next eight months anyway.
By a 68-29 count, the Senate passed its $17.6 billion jobs bill—called HIRE—that contains $20 billion for highway and transit programs. Democrats have promised that there will be more bills addressing unemployment before 2010 comes to an end, but details of the next round of aid have not been released. The President was expected to sign the latest jobs bill immediately.