The Senate is expected to vote on a temporary transportation spending bill later this week — with an emphasis on the word temporary.
The bill would keep highway funding flowing through May of next year, and avert a looming infrastructure crisis. Without congressional action, the highway trust fund would run out of cash in August.
The short-term fix follows a familiar pattern. It goes something like this:
First, panic erupts because the government is going to shut down — or a program is going to run out of money — or a tax will automatically rise.