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 The legislation would provide $130 billion for surface
transportation investments through 2018 and, if passed, would be the
first multiyear highway bill in more than decade. It is expected to
dominate Senate deliberations into next week as Republicans and
Democrats work against a July 31 deadline to keep the national
Highway Trust Fund from running out of money.
“Both parties know that a long-term highway bill is in the best
interest of our country. So we’ll continue working together to get a
good one passed," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
"I’m hopeful we will."
But McConnell's Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Minority
Leader Harry Reid, said: "Based on my conversations with the
Democrats in the House (of Representatives) and their conversations
with Republican leaders, I don't think there's a chance in the world
they're going to take up this bill."
A similar effort last week in the House instead produced an $8.1
billion plan to fund infrastructure projects, but only through the
end of 2015.
 But Senate Democrats on Tuesday shot down an initial push to begin
debate on the bipartisan legislation, saying Republican leaders had
not provided enough time to review the 1,030-page bill.
Senators have 10 days to approve the legislation and send it to the
House of Representatives and the White House for President Barack
Obama's signature. If the plan fails, senators would have to opt for
a version of the short-term measure already approved by the House.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the chamber's No. 2
Republican, criticized the Senate for finding only three years of
funding. He said senators should pursue another short-term bill now
and work toward six-year legislation "that you actually pay for."
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The Senate legislation authorizes surface transportation spending
for six years but provides money only through 2018.
Lawmakers avoided an increase in the national gasoline tax and
instead cobbled together funding totaling $47 billion. Funding
sources include $9 billion in oil sales from the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve and $16.3 billion from a cut in Federal Reserve dividends to
large banks.
Aides said the bill's future could be clouded by floor amendments
including potential Republican measures to end federal funding for
Planned Parenthood and to do away with Obamacare. Democrats,
meanwhile, could try to add in auto-safety provisions rejected by
the Senate Commerce Committee.
McConnell said he expected an amendment to reopen the U.S.
Export-Import Bank, which has been closed to new business since its
charter expired on June 30.
The Obama administration weighed in late on Tuesday, with an
official saying the bill should include "adequate safety standards."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said the
legislation should include "a path forward on reauthorizing the
Ex-Im Bank."
(Reporting by David Lawder, Richard Cowan, Patricia Zengerle, Susan
Heavey, David Morgan and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Steve Orlofsky
and Lisa Shumaker)
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