ROADS/BRIDGES: Speaker hopeful promises long-term highway bill

Sept. 29, 2015

House Majority Leader McCarthy says measure would follow tax reform

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is trying to land a job, and in doing so he is promising thousands of them.

McCarthy said if he is named the Speaker of the House he would pass a long-term highway bill, which would provide work to countless of Americans. Current House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he will be stepping down in October, and the current highway funding extension expires on Oct. 29.

“Well, fundamentally, I’m going to change as Speaker,” McCarthy, who is the favorite to follow Boehner, told MSNBC. “We’re going to make sure we get the highway bill done.

“If we pass a highway bill with tax reform at the same time, that’s policy. That changes the inversion process; that means more money comes back to America. That puts a six-year highway bill on the floor and starts moving and building roads that we need in American infrastructure.”

Of course, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee still has to produce a long-term highway bill, and Chair Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) has said another short-term extension is the more likely option when the current one expires in four weeks.

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