Obama optimistic about transportation bill

President Obama said in his year-end press conference on Friday that he believes Congress can reach a bipartisan agreement on a long-term transportation funding bill next year, despite years of temporary extensions emanating from Washington.

Obama has sent Congress a proposal for a four-year, $302 billion transportation bill that would be paid for largely with revenue from corporate tax reform proposals that have stalled on Capitol Hill, but lawmakers have ignored the president’s infrastructure measure.

Congress had a chance to pass a multi-year transportation funding package earlier this year, but lawmakers could not agree on a way to pay for more than a couple of months’ worth of projects, resulting in a temporary extension that provided funding for only eight months.

Obama said on Friday that he was hopeful transportation funding would be an area of bipartisan agreement when the GOP takes over both houses of Congress for the first time since 2006 in January, despite the prior inaction.

“Historically, obviously, infrastructure has not been a Democratic or a Republican issue,” he said. “And I'd like to see if we can return to that tradition.”