Schumer, Blumenthal Hopeful Senate Will OK Transportation Funding

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two U.S. senators are calling for their fellow lawmakers to keep the federal transportation fund from running out of money next month.

As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives last week passed a short-term, $11 billion Highway Trust Fund bill. Now, the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, will consider the legislation.

"I'm very hopeful that we will have at least a short-term solution," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Sunday during a joint news conference in Greenwich Village with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Blumenthal and Schumer said they fought unsuccessfully for a long-term solution, needed to replenish funds to finance road, bridge and mass transit projects, before lawmakers turned their focus to a stop-gap bill creating funding through May 2015.

"That is better than letting the fund run out and throwing tens of thousands out of work, but it doesn't solve the problem because until our states, our communities and our contractors can get long-term funding so they can do two-, three-, four-, five-year plans, we're not spending the dollars as effectively as we should," Schumer said.

Schumer and Blumenthal hope to vote on the measure Tuesday.

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