U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, today voted against a 90-day extension of the transportation bill. Larsen was one of a group bipartisan transportation leaders who wrote a letter to House leadership earlier this week calling for a vote on the Senate-passed two-year transportation authorization bill. The extension, which passed the House today, would be the ninth short-term extension of the transportation bill if passed by the Senate and signed by the President.

“All this short-term extension does is increase uncertainty for construction workers, contractors and transportation planners,” Larsen said. “Ninety days is simply not enough time to plan major transportation projects in the middle of the construction season. Projects may be idled and workers left without jobs until we pass a long-term bill. I am disappointed that House leadership prevented a vote on the bipartisan two-year transportation bill passed in the Senate. That bill would support more than 33,000 jobs in Washington state by investing directly in our critical infrastructure. It earned the broad bipartisan support of three-quarters of the Senate and has the support of the President and Democrats in the House of Representatives. House Republican leaders must stop their obstructionism and allow us to move forward with the Senate bill.”