Washington Weekly Updates August 7, 2015

Washington Weekly Updates
August 7, 2015

Motorcycle Riders Foundation, Vice President Government Relations and Public Affairs

Summertime Slowdown
With the House having recessed for the month of August and the Senate sticking around to debate the issue de jour – defunding Planned Parenthood – Congress was only operating at half speed this week. For the most part, this week was spent greasing the wheels for the fall when the House takes up the Highway bill. It is unclear what the House will do at this point. One outcome (and the most unlikely of all) is that the House simply takes up the Senate bill and passes as is. A more realistic outcome is that the House will hem and haw until the deadline puts some real pressure on them to pass a bill. Current funding now expires October 29th, and I would venture to guess that we most likely see the water began to boil on this bill sometime around the beginning of October. The different transportation coalitions with which the Motorcycle Riders Foundation work are circling the wagons and getting on the same page to force the House to act once and for all.

Recess in DC
It’s Recess, the most wonderful time of the year in Washington DC! All of your elected officials are back in their home districts to campaign and hold town hall meetings. I don't want to tell you how to spend your summer, but you should take a few hours of it and go to a town hall meeting, especially with your Representatives. Tell them to get to work on passing a highway bill – they need to be reminded, badly. You can find out their schedules from their websites or by simply calling a home district office.