Unlikely to reach an agreement by the end of the month, Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would temporarily extend the authorization of the Highway Trust Fund until the end of July.

The Highway Trust Fund finances federal highway and transportation projects, and is funded by the federal tax on gas and diesel fuel.

The authorization for the fund expires at the end of May, but it has sufficient resources to last for two more months. It is projected to run out of money this year as it faces a $13 billion deficit.

According to the Associated Press, “Republicans from both chambers said they expected Congress to approve the legislation next week.”

Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced a bill that would extend the Highway Trust Fund through July 31.

Shuster and Ryan said in a joint statement that “while highway and transit program spending authority expires at the end of the month, the Highway Trust Fund has sufficient resources to fund its obligations through the end of July.”

“It was our preference to move an extension through the end of the year, but we will need more time to reach a bipartisan agreement on offsets,” they said. “This legislation will allow transportation spending to continue through July, while we work towards a next step to close the Trust Fund’s shortfall. Doing so will require our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be constructive in working towards a solution. Only then will we be able to produce a plan that gives states the certainty they need to build the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure our communities and economy need to thrive.”

On Friday, White House principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters that it would be a “dereliction of responsibility” for lawmakers to leave town without passing at least a short-term extension.

>>> Your Federal Gas Taxes Pay For This Program. Congress Will Decide Its Financial Future.

In a recent report, Michael Sargent, a research assistant at The Heritage Foundation, wrote that “the current method of investing in infrastructure through the Highway Trust Fund is not working.”

“Congress not only has chosen to spend more than the fund receives in revenue, but is increasingly spending it on projects that are far outside of the federal purview. Local streetcar and bike path projects, while not inherently imprudent, should not be constructed using federal tax dollars collected from motorists.”

Sargent suggested leaving more infrastructure decisions to the states.

“Instead, Congress should strengthen the nation’s highways in a fiscally responsible way by limiting spending and ending diversions to projects that are not federal priorities. Even better, Congress should minimize the federal government’s role in transportation spending, leaving states to decide how best to invest in the infrastructure that their citizens deem most necessary,” he concluded.