The U.S. House on Tuesday passed legislation on Tuesday afternoon providing enough money for the Highway Trust Fund through May 2015.

The vote of 367 to 55 prevents the fund, used to pay for federal road and bridge projects, from going broke as early as next month. The U.S. DOT has warned that if more money is not appropriated for the fund, the department will start trimming payments to pay for construction, idling many projects.

The fund is running low on money due to federal receipts of gasoline and diesel taxes not keeping pace with road funding demands. Out of the 181 Republicans who voted to advance the measure, 45 were opposed. In contrast, 186 Democrats signed off on the proposal, while just ten voted against it.

The measure now heads to the Senate where it is expected pass, according to The Hill.

It reports the bill would be offset with about $6.4 billion in revenue from pension smoothing, another $3.5 billion from customs user fees and a final $1 billion from an account set up to deal with leaking underground storage tanks.

Read more about it from The Hill.

 

 

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