On Thursday, November 5, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a multi-year transportation bill that would authorize federal spending of up to $325 billion on road, bridge and rail transit projects to fix the nation's infrastructure. The measure authorizes federal spending on infrastructure projects for six years, but provides guaranteed funding for only three years.

Final provisions of the transportation authorization are subject to negotiations with the Senate. The largest issue to be worked out is how to pay for a funding shortfall. The primary source of federal infrastructure funding is the gas tax - currently set at 18.4 cents per gallon and unchanged since 1993 - but this source no longer provides enough revenue to meet the needs for various federal transportation projects across the country. At its current rate, the gas tax brings in approximately $34 billion per year, while the federal government typically spends about $50 billion annually on transportation projects.