Congress punted once again on a transportation bill and packed it in for August, but associations won't take a break from advocacy. Groups will be busy mobilizing members and other stakeholders to lobby lawmakers in their home districts.

Senators passed a bill with three years of funding for highway and transit programs July 30, but the House refused to consider it before leaving town. That left the Senate with the option of approving the House's three-month extension of current programs, which it did, or letting programs expire. The extension will keep federal money flowing through Oct. 29.

"We now need to build on the momentum from the Senate and pressure all House members while they are home in August to commit to passing a multi-year reauthorization bill that grows highway and public transportation investment once they return to Washington in September," wrote Dave Bauer, senior vice president for government relations at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, on the group's website. "We will be sending specific grassroots requests shortly."

Groups praised the Senate for managing to pass a bipartisan bill, 65-34, to reauthorize programs for six years. But the legislation uses controversial pay-fors—such as selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—to supplement the Highway Trust Fund for the first three years, and is silent after that. Most members of Congress refuse to consider increasing the federal gas tax, which has been 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993.

Michael Melaniphy, CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, called the six-year bill "a good starting point."

"We look forward to working with the House of Representatives on development of its bill and with the entire Congress as it reaches agreement on fully funded multi-year legislation," Melaniphy said in a news release.

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