Among other things, the HIRE Act enables state and local governments to move forward with needed transportation projects by extending authorization for the highway and transit programs through the end of this year; providing $19.5 billion to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent; and restoring $8.7 billion in highway contract authority to the states that had been rescinded at the end of 2009.

Still, the Congress has left in limbo a six-year, $450 billion spending plan for highway construction, mass transit and other projects. Without reauthorization of the highway bill, transportation funding remains at current levels. Two recent commissions on that subject have called for $106 billion a year investment over the next 20 years to maintain the current system, compared to the $80 billion a year currently spent by all levels of government. Click here for a summary of the HIRE Act.