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Just in time to avoid the swamp draining of Washington, D.C., that President-elect Donald Trump has promised, members of Congress return to Capitol Hill this week for what looks to be a brief and uneventful lame duck.

WASHINGTON��— Enhancing transportation technologies and establishing partnerships with investors to finance large-scale infrastructure projects are ideal ways for cash-strapped cities to boost their economies, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told a group of transportation observers here Nov. 14.

The U.S. House will be prepared to craft legislation next year that would provide long-term infrastructure funding for freight and commuter corridors around the country, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Nov. 13.

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s win, trucking and transportation industry executives saw the president-elect’s bullish interest in modernizing the country’s infrastructure as a glass-half-full.

The re-election of senior Republicans on Nov. 8, solidifying the party’s control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, is expected to help Republicans unify the divisions within their party and approve a long-term funding fix for freight infrastructure projects next year, the incumbent lawmakers and GOP leaders said.

After nearly losing his seat in the Republican primary earlier this year, Rep. Bill Shuster, the top transportation policymaker in the U.S. House, was easily re-elected to a ninth term.

Two Florida Republicans relevant to freight transportation on Capitol Hill, one a freshman and the other a longtime leader, lost their re-election bids Nov. 8.

The freight transportation policy outlook on Capitol Hill for next year remains murky, thanks to the uncertainty of key congressional contests this year.

When Americans cast their ballots for president and members of Congress, they also will help to determine the outlook for the country’s highway funding that is so critical to freight movement.

The message from Pennsylvania trucking leaders to voters in the 9th Congressional District is simple: It sometimes helps the industry when the top transportation policymaker in the U.S. House of Representatives also is your congressman.