Obama Slams Congress for Blocking Transportation Funding

‘Some states have already had to put some projects on hold because they don’t trust Congress to get its act together’

Obama in Virginia to talk transportation funding (WAVY)

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he supports temporary measures to keep federal transportation aid flowing to the states and to keep construction crews on the job, while he also pressed Congress for a more permanent solution to the longstanding shortfall in funding for road and bridge-building projects.

The House was expected later Tuesday to pass a temporary patch for the Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to run dry next month unless Congress acts, the Transportation Department says. The measure cobbles together $10.8 billion from various sources to keep the fund solvent through May 2015. A similar bill is pending in the Senate. Obama said he supports the efforts by lawmakers in both chambers, but wants to see more.

“At the very least Congress should be keeping people on the job who are already there right now,” he said after touring a federal highway research center in northern Virginia. “But all this does is set us up for the same crisis a few months from now. So Congress shouldn’t pat itself on the back for averting disaster for a few months.”

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