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Democrats who control the New Jersey Legislature are ready to back a proposal to increase the state’s gasoline tax in exchange for cutting other levies.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said her congressional colleagues should use the next five years to come up with a long-term funding fix for transportation projects.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Dec. 7 issued a proposed rule to upgrade current rear impact guards on trucks and trailers to address underride protection in car crashes into trailers and semitrailers.

The National Truck Parking Coalition met for the first time last month in hopes of coming up with solutions to the nationwide shortage of truck parking.

Congress approved a final version of a five-year, $305 billion highway reauthorization bill that would call on trucking regulators to fix a controversial safety performance scoring program for motor carriers long criticized by industry leaders.

Congress’ passage of its first five-year transportation bill in a decade, while significant, failed to ensure the long-term stability of a key highway account, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), the leading advocate on Capitol Hill for raising federal fuel taxes to pay for infrastructure projects.

The overall economy increased at a modest pace in most regions of the country from late October to November, but transportation was softer, the Federal Reserve reported.

Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton unveiled a $275 billion plan for investing in infrastructure nationwide over five years, paid for through business tax reform.