House Dems urge more action on highways

House Democrats are urging their GOP colleagues to end the cycle of short-term extensions for the country’s highway funding. 

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee told the panel’s chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), on Thursday that there had been 23 short-term extensions for infrastructure funding in the last dozen years. 

{mosads}”These short-term extensions must stop,” the Democrats wrote. “We are calling for a long-term, six-year extension.” 

Lawmakers need to act on highway policy by the end of the month, and almost no one expects a long-term deal to emerge over the next week or so. 

Top Republicans have been working on a highway patch that would last until the end of 2015, a prospect that would cost in the range of $11 billion. Other lawmakers have called for a two-month extension of highway policy, which the Transportation Department says would allow highway funding to last until at least July.

In their letter to Ryan, Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.) and the other Democrats on the panel said they looked forward to holding hearings next month “with a wide range of stakeholders, that fully consider all funding options.”

The House Democrats join their Senate counterparts in chiding Republicans for not working toward a long-term plan. But Democrats themselves haven’t laid out detailed preferences for a longer highway deal, either.

“We have ideas, but it takes two to tango,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last week. “Our Republican colleagues are in the majority. We think they should be putting forward a plan.”