A White House spokesperson confirmed that President Obama will sign the $305 billion highway bill once it reaches his desk. The bill was introduced this week and included a reverse of the $3 billion crop insurance cut which was included in a budget deal last month. The Hill reports that White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama will sign the measure quickly if Congress sends it to him to prevent an interruption in the nation's transportation spending on Friday. The reversal in crop insurance comes at a cost to the banking industry, as the cuts will move over to Federal Reserve dividend payments to large banks. Meanwhile, the 1,300-page bill, paid for with gas tax revenue and a package of $70 billion in offsets from other areas of the federal budget, calls for spending approximately $205 billion on highways and $48 billion on transit projects over the next five years. The bill also reauthorizes the controversial Export-Import Bank’s expired charter until 2019.
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