Highway Bill Passes House and Senate

| 6/29/2012

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century bill, also known as the Highway Bill, passed both houses of Congress today. If signed into law, the two-year, $105 billion bill will be used for infrastructure projects and will also extend the flood insurance program and prevents an increase in student loan interest rates.

The bill includes over $514 million to improve transportation infrastructure in North Dakota.

"The reauthorization of the highway bill is terrific news for North Dakota," said Congressman Rick Berg. "This bill will help create stability and certainty in North Dakota as we continue to see unprecedented growth. Ongoing growth has created the need to maintain and expand our infrastructure to coincide with this expansion, and this legislation will help serve that purpose."

"This bill delivers the infrastructure investment our nation so desperately needs," Senator Kent Conrad said. "Because we are such a rural state, North Dakotans are particularly dependent on safe and reliable roadways. That is particularly true in western North Dakota, where the oil find has resulted in a dramatic increase in economic activity and, consequently, more wear and tear on our roadways. These resources will go a long way toward ensuring North Dakota families, business travelers and tourists continue to enjoy safe roadways."

The bill also provides a five year reauthorization of the federal flood insurance program.

"The Flood Insurance Reauthorization bill is vitally important for our state and for our nation," said Senator John Hoeven. "We worked to ensure that it works well for North Dakota and other states that have already built, or plan to build, extensive flood protection to safeguard their communities, as well as for communities on the Missouri River hard hit by flooding in 2011."

The Highway Bill passed the Senate by a 74-19 vote and passed the House by a vote of 373-52. It will be sent to the President to be signed into law.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY

BACK TO NEWS | BACK TO BISMARCK STORIES