AUSTIN — Wearily dragging into an unusual eighth month of the Texas Legislature, a House committee on Thursday again approved boosting spending for overcrowded and crumbling roads, a plan twice sunk at the Capitol this summer by turmoil and no-show lawmakers.
The ongoing failure to ratify an extra $900 million for transportation is raising political stakes on the eve of the campaign season for 2014, when Texas faces a major shake-up of leadership with the departure of Gov. Rick Perry.