Dive Brief:

• A successful rescue plan for the Highway Trust Fund, which is heading toward empty coffers, seems to be as distant as ever.
• Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies, said in a floor speech that closing "wasteful" tax loopholes is the right way to avoid a crash for the construction industry's highway sector.
• A group in the House, which is controlled by Republicans, has proposed finding construction money by cutting back Saturday mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.

Dive Insight:

The sudden stop to construction projects apparently is not yet close enough to prompt real action in Congress. The fund is certain to run dry by the end of the fiscal year and may sputter out earlier, and its lifeblood – the federal gas tax – has not changed since 1993. On Washington's clock, however, it appears the issue is still at the speech stage.