Senate might have to go first on continuing resolution

The Senate could act first on stop-gap funding legislation Congress is expected to pass this month, House and Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday.

"I expect them to start" the continuing resolution debate, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., indicated that Senate action on the continuing resoution could come before the House moves on the bill.

But House and Senate leadership aides stressed that no final decisions have been made on the matter.

The issue came up at a meeting Tuesday between House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Traditionally, the House considers spending legislation before the Senate does. But House Democratic leaders don't want to risk acting first on a CR that the Senate might not be able to pass. Democrats have 59 seats in the Senate and would likely need a Republican vote to clear a CR.

Also it might be a challenge for Democratic leaders to hold their caucus together as Republican rhetoric on the deficit and government spending intensify ahead of the midterm elections.

Congress needs to pass a stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown after Sept. 30 to allow lawmakers to complete work on the 12 fiscal 2011 appropriations bills.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for Transportation Productivity praised the White House for urging appropriators to include a provision in the CR that would make permanent a pilot program that allows trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on federal interstate highways in Maine and Vermont.

"We think that this year's pilot has taught citizens, state officials, law enforcement in both states, that moving heavy trucks from the crowded state and local roads to the more capable interstate has made the roads safer and more efficient for everybody," said John Runyan, executive director for CPT, which consists of a group of more than 160 shippers and allied associations.

Runyan said that the group is working on a letter it plans to send to appropriators urging them to make the pilot program permanent.

Without action by Congress, the pilot program would expire Dec. 17.

Runyan's comments come after the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks on Monday urged lawmakers not to extend the pilot programs. The coalition says its members consist of citizen organizations, state and local law enforcement agencies, senior citizens groups, highway safety advocates and environmental and business groups.

CABT said the White House's move to extend the program would undermine federal interstate highway truck weight limits and would increase wear and tear on the nation's interstates.

Dan Friedman contributed to this report.