H.R. 5021, the "Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014"

Early in 2014, the Transportation Department warned that its Highway Trust Fund, which is used to reimburse states for construction projects, would run out of money by August 2014 unless reauthorized and replenished by Congress.  H.R. 5021, introduced by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), includes short-term extensions of several expiring federal highway programs, including the Highway Trust Fund.

On July 15, 2014, the House passed H.R. 5021.  The Senate amended the bill and passed it on July 29, 2014.  The Senate version of the bill extended the programs only through December 2014, in order to force Congress to complete a long-term transportation funding package before the end of the calendar year.  The House-passed version extended the programs through May 2015.  On July 31, 2014, the House considered a Republican motion to strip out the amendments passed by the Senate.  The House voted 272 - 150 to send the original House-passed version of H.R. 5021 back to the Senate.  On July 31, 2014, in order to prevent the Highway Trust Fund from running out of money, the Senate voted to recede from its amendments to H.R. 5021 and passed the House version of the bill.  The President signed H.R. 5021 into law on August 8, 2014, making it Public Law No. 113-159.