A multi-year bill reauthorizing funding for the nation’s surface transportation programs will be passed by Congress and signed into law by time Congress moves into the August summer recess, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood predicted earlier this week.

LaHood, speaking during a visit to Atlanta, said the bill could be approved despite pledges of reduced spending from some members of Congress because transportation funding is a bipartisan issue that benefits the nation through improved infrastructure and helps create jobs. ”There are no Republican or Democratic runways. There are no Republican or Democratic roads. There are no Republican or Democratic bridges,” he said.

The administration has proposed a six-year reauthorization to fund the nation’s infrastructure programs, including a $50 billion up-front investment. The most recent surface transport reauthorization law expired on Sept. 30, 2009, and has since been operating on a number of short-term extensions since.

LaHood said the Obama administration remains opposed to a proposal increasing federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel to fund transportation programs, during a period of high unemployment and uncertain economic prospects. The federal fuels tax has not been raised since 1993.