By Eric Stock

PEORIA – U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, is serving on a congressional committee that’s ironing out differences in two transportation bills.

Those bills still don’t have full funding, which LaHood told WJBC’s Tim Lewis remains a sticking point.

“I think this puts us on the right path, but any time you are talking about finding additional revenue when you have an $18 trillion debt, it’s going to be hard to get people to pass that,” LaHood said.

The funding bills that came out of the House and Senate both authorize funding for six years, but there’s only enough money to cover the first three years. LaHood said he backs the House’s emphasis on road and bridge construction, while the Senate measure calls for more funding for public transit.

President Barack Obama recently signed an transportation funding extension to get through the end of next week.

Refugees

LaHood said he wants the Obama administration to put the brakes on the president’s plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S.

“I’ve been hearing a lot from my constituents on making sure we put in place the best mechanisms through the FBI and our national security to make sure we aren’t letting in people who want to harm America,” LaHood said.

LaHood voted for a House-passed bill that would suspend the program and then implement tougher screening standards. The Senate is expected to take up a similar measure that would go a step further by blocking waivers for Europeans who spent time in Syria or Iraq in the past five years.

Electricity

LaHood is pushing the Power Act, which would provide a 30-percent tax credit to companies that use technology that can use heat that’s often wasted during electricity generation.

“It incentivizes companies to produce cleaner energy<” LaHood said. “It helps the environment and makes us more competitive in the energy field.”

LaHood said the measure is similar to the incentives that are already offered for solar and renewable energy.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].