The Senate has passed the Surface Transportation Extension Act, extending SAFETEA-LU for the seventh time and keeping the transportation program going at current spending levels. The House passed the bill yesterday.

Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released a statement expressing her satisfaction that the bill has passed both houses. “With the construction season upon us, this extension is especially important because it will give states the certainty they need to award contracts and get projects underway,” she said. “This will help ensure that jobs are saved and created in California and across the country.”

She said that she and her colleagues have a goal of finishing a new surface transportation authorization “by the end of this year.” (Perhaps she means the end of the fiscal year — she, along with John Mica and Ray LaHood, have been saying they plan to have a bill finished before the August recess.)