Senate Commerce Approves Multi-Year Transportation Bill with Bipartisan Provisions

Press Release

Today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved a multi-year transportation bill, including a bipartisan passenger rail safety bill, and a host of multiple amendments offering critical regulatory and consumer protection reforms by a vote of 13 to 11. By tradition, the Commerce Committee bill (S. 1732) will advance in combination with S. 1647, the DRIVE Act, previously approved by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and component legislation from other Senate committees on the Senate floor to form legislation commonly referred to as "The Highway Bill" or the "Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill." Commerce Committee chairman, U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement on committee passage:

"Today, the committee incorporated important bipartisan safety enhancements and approved a bill that enacts critical regulatory reforms," said Thune. "We worked hard to include input from both sides of the aisle, and we now have a bill that can move forward towards enacting a multi-year transportation reauthorization bill versus passing additional short-term extensions."

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