Story by: John Gallagher, Washington Correspondent @ FreightWaves.com

President Donald Trump is expected to avoid a replay of last year by signing off on a $1.4 trillion fiscal year 2020 spending package that averts a government shutdown had Congress failed to meet a Dec. 20 deadline.

The massive funding measure — approved by the House of Representatives on Dec. 17 and by the Senate on Dec. 19 — includes $86.2 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), roughly the same amount allotted to the agency in 2019. More than half of the DOT funding, $46.3 billion, came from the Highway Trust Fund to be used for the Federal-Aid Highway Program, which provides financial assistance for building and maintaining roads in individual states.

President Trump’s advisors said earlier in the week that if passed by Congress, he would sign the legislation by the December 20 deadline.

Funding for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) came in at $679 million, which was contingent upon continuing to exempt livestock and insect haulers from the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was funded at $989 million.

Read the full story HERE @ freightwaves.com

Source and credits: freightwaves.com / John Gallagher/  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski