What this bill does

There are several programs that help pay for various transportation projects and systems. They all receive money through the Highway Trust Fund. This bill effectively authorizes the fund to keep paying for these programs through May, 2015.

The funding however, did not come from an additional tax. Rather, the government effectively borrowed from the pension funds of future retirees. It's a method known as Pension Smoothing. It increases tax revenue from corporations in the short term, while decreasing revenues in the long term. It also puts the pensions of future retirees at risk - which might need to be made up for with additional public money.

This is the same method that was used to pay for the bill that this bill was an extension of - the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act.

More information

You can find more details about this bill at GovTrack.us.