Efforts to pass the next highway bill are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.
The current highway bill – also known as the surface transportation authorization bill – expires on Sept. 30. Although that is more than six months away, lawmakers don’t have a lot of time to waste if they want to pass the comprehensive legislative package before the deadline.
Rep. Sam Graves, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that getting the highway bill passed before the Sept. 30 deadline is a priority. In 2020, lawmakers were forced to kick the can down the road a year before eventually passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November 2021.
“We intend to mark the bill up … at the end of this month or maybe the first part of April,” Graves, R-Mo., said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Keep America Moving Summit on Tuesday, March 17. “We intend to have it off the House floor this spring. We’re working hard right now to put the base text together.”
Highway bills are typically authorized for five years, and Graves said the goal will be to use the funds for projects that will improve the nation’s roads and bridges.
“At least the House version is going to be a more traditional highway bill,” Graves said. “That means laying asphalt, pouring concrete, building bridges – the things that are important to the infrastructure itself. We’re not going to be buying art for train stations like we saw in the last surface transportation reauthorization, which turned into a behemoth of a bill.”
Another priority, Graves said, is to stabilize the Highway Trust Fund and ensure everyone is contributing. The Highway Trust Fund, the primary funding source for highway and bridge projects, generates revenue from fuel taxes. That means electric vehicles have not been contributing.
“I would like to do the best we can to shore up the Highway Trust Fund,” Graves said. “We haven’t seen any new money in it in 30 years. We would like to get money from EVs. They are getting a free ride. They are simply using the highway with no buy-in or user fees. I’m a small-government conservative, but I also believe in user fees when it comes to infrastructure. If you’re going to use the infrastructure, you need to pay for it. Everything is on the table when it comes to that.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been laying the groundwork for the past year to include as many pro-trucker initiatives in the highway bill as possible.
During a Senate hearing in July 2025, OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh told lawmakers to follow the administration’s lead by creating a highway bill that prioritizes the nation’s truck drivers.
“Truckers now need lawmakers to embrace the new approach taken by the White House with as much energy and resolve,” Pugh said. “I assure you this can be done in a bipartisan manner that promotes highway safety, improves driver recruitment and retention and increases supply chain efficiency.”
Pugh added, “If you’re not yet ready to embrace the new trend of prioritizing the needs of truckers, let me remind you that the old approach simply doesn’t work. Policies that large carriers swore would improve safety, like the electronic logging device mandate, have proven ineffective. As predicted, pilot programs for teenage drivers have been colossal failures, leading their proponents to blame inward-facing camera requirements rather than admit their own policies have made trucking unappealing to younger Americans.” LL
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