BA250 Gets A Lifeline In Senate's Highway Bill Stopgap

Our prior prediction that the federal government wouldn’t pass its new surface bill before the IIJA expired seems to be a foregone conclusion. With federal surface transportation programs set to expire September 30, and almost no floor time left to pass a long-term bill, the Senate moved to buy itself more runway.

This isn’t that unusual, and shouldn’t be seen or taken with too much alarm, even if it isn’t what anyone would prefer. It does signal that congress knows the limits of their time ahead before the IIJA ends. The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) moved in response by sending out a five-point briefing this week that broke down the Senate's proposed short-term extension.

Here is what NAPA laid out:

1. The extension runs short. The Senate proposal would push the September 30 deadline to December 11, handing Congress roughly 10 more weeks to finish a long-term surface transportation bill before the 119th Congress adjourns. Miss that window, and the whole reauthorization process restarts in 2027.
2. It arrives mostly clean, with one gap. The measure continues surface transportation authorizations, but it leaves out the expiring advance appropriations that NAPA and a broad industry coalition pushed Congress to include.
3. It matches the plan leaders floated. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) have called for a brief extension, used to keep work moving toward a long-term reauthorization this year.
4. It is moving in the Senate. The extension rides inside a bipartisan government funding package that cleared a critical procedural vote Monday evening. The Senate looked poised to pass the package before leaving for its August recess this weekend.
5. The House still has to act. The House passed its own government funding extension before leaving for a month-long recess in late July, but that version left out several provisions in the Senate package, including the surface transportation extension. Any final agreement will need House approval after members return in late August. Both chambers must pass identical text by September 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, to avoid a government shutdown.

NAPA framed the stopgap as a hurdle, yes, but ultimately the end point remains unchanged. The association said its focus stays on enacting  BA250 this year, pressing for passage out of the House while working with the Senate on its own reauthorization package. 

NAPA also detailed a week of ground game: new BA250 explainers on work zone safety and the electric vehicle fee, members-only talking points for contractors engaging Congressional staff, and an asphalt plant tour for House Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the 24th congressional site visit the association has coordinated this year. That last one carries weight, since the Rules Committee controls which bills reach the House floor.

What NAPA leadership said

Audrey Copeland, PhD, PE, NAPA President and CEO:

Congress appears unlikely to complete a long-term surface transportation reauthorization before the September 30 deadline. This delay leaves future investment in our surface transportation system, American companies, and workers in limbo. A short-term extension is not a substitute for the long-term certainty both states and industry require to invest in their communities and our highway system. We remain hopeful that this extra time spurs Congress to enact the BUILD America 250 Act this year. NAPA and our dedicated members are ready to engage with lawmakers to finish the job and get to work.

Nile Elam, NAPA Vice President of Government Affairs:

While a short-term extension is an added hurdle to long-term reauthorization, our focus remains on finishing a long-term highway bill before the 119th Congress adjourns in December. The BUILD America 250 Act provides the bipartisan framework to deliver the investment, funding certainty, and key policy reforms the asphalt pavement industry has long championed and that our country requires to remain best in class. We look forward to working with Congress to get this crucial legislation across the finish line this year.

On The Hill

The extension did not move on its own. It rode inside a bipartisan continuing resolution that Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released August 2, and the Senate voted 89 to 4 the next day to advance it toward a floor vote.

Collins kept her framing simple. She called the measure straightforward, said it held current funding steady through December 11, and said it avoided "poison pills."

Murray put the industry's stakes on the record. She said she, "Pushed hard to extend infrastructure funding set to run out on September 30, so that we can save jobs and keep fixing America's roads and bridges." Republicans declined to include it. That fight centered on roughly $36.8 billion a year in advance appropriations from the 2021 infrastructure law, the same money NAPA flagged as missing from the extension. On this point, the industry and the Democratic side of the Appropriations Committee wanted the same outcome, but were unsuccessful.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) signaled a fast finish, telling colleagues he expected to pass the bill within days.

An extension keeps current programs running which came under the IIJA, but it does not deliver the long-term funding certainty that lets states program new work with confidence. And that confidence is what dictates how markets will move, as well as the rest of the economic environment for road builders. The clock now runs to December 11 instead of September 30.