Both houses of Congress Wednesday passed a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded through Dec. 9, and while it wards off a government shutdown, the bill did not include a provision to clarify the future of hours of service rules pertaining to truckers’ use of a 34-hour restart.
James Jaillet, writing for our sister publication, “Overdrive,” adds:
“The measure will now likely be taken up in the 2017 Department of Transportation appropriations bill or a similar omnibus spending package for the 2017 fiscal year.
“Some major news outlets had reported that Congress was eyeing the the must-pass appropriations bill as a means to pass other so-called “riders,” like the measure to correct a 2015-passed bill that put the 34-hour restart in jeopardy. Some reports specifically mentioned the hours fix as a rider likely to be tacked on to the government funding bill.
“However, with time waning and other controversial measures swirling around the bill (such as $1 billion to fight Zika and a major Flint, Mich., water relief package), lawmakers skipped padding the short-term bill with policy riders.”
