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Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) has announced that he and Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) have organized an effort to collect about 300 signatures on a letter calling on House leaders to produce what the congressmen call a responsibly paid-for, multiyear surface transportation reauthorization bill.

Jack Gerard, executive director of the Washington-based American Petroleum Institute, told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 3 to put aside political differences and agree on long-term funding programs that modernize the country’s aging transportation network.

President Obama told chief executives on Dec. 3 he doubts congressional leaders will be able to advance a long-term comprehensive transportation measure next year, approving instead a short-term highway funding fix.

President Barack Obama on Aug. 8 signed into law a $10.8 billion bill that keeps a federal highway account funded through May 2015.

A $10.8 billion bill to boost the Highway Trust Fund through May passed the House and Senate on July 31, shortly before lawmakers left Washington for a five-week recess.

The Senate on July 29 easily voted to send the House a nearly $8 billion bill that would fund federal highway programs through December, a move meant to force lawmakers to agree on a long-term funding plan for transportation construction projects nationwide.

The chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee on July 28 criticized the primary source of funding for a House bill that would shore up the Highway Trust Fund, a day before the Senate is expected to vote on the legislation.