Two competing safety bills – one supported by highway safety advocates and the other by the bus industry – have sat virtually untouched in congressional committees for more than two years. Despite a bleak outlook for passing them in the next year, supporters of both bills said laws are still needed to provide a sturdier framework for forthcoming regulations.

"It comes with all good intentions when agencies are left to their own," said Henry Jasny, general counsel for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "But the result is not as good or on time, as when agencies are required to act by Congress."

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, first introduced a bill two years ago that would overhaul the largely unregulated bus industry in less than five years. Soon after, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., offered an industry-friendly bill that would call for more studies and allow up to 18 years for compliance with new standards.

Disagreements over how to reconcile those two bills, in addition to a legislative calendar packed with protracted debates over health care, climate change and the economy, have slowed progress on either side. But the Transportation Department's Motorcoach Safety Action Plan was seen not as yet another obstacle to congressional bus safety action, but as an opportunity to gain support.

"The administration's support for crucial bus safety improvements will help build momentum as I continue the fight to move bus safety legislation through Congress," Hutchison said.

Both bills and the safety plan tackle the leading causes of fatal bus accidents: a lack of seat belts, crush-resistant roofs, safety windows and other features, scant driver training and standards, and loose regulatory oversight.

But the safety plan straddles the two bills by proposing a mix of mandates and further study. The plan calls for rule making on three items: requiring recording devices to monitor drivers' hours and manage fatigue, prohibiting drivers from texting and limiting their use of cellphones, and requiring the installation of seat belts.

Hutchison noted that many of the recommendations in the Transportation Department's report echoed proposals in her legislation. Five Texas representatives, spurred by last year's deadly crash near Sherman, are co-sponsoring a corresponding House bill.

But highway safety advocates said that the Transportation Department's plan lacks specifics and that they want the entirety of Hutchison's Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, which would seek near immediate regulations on everything from safety windows to firefighting equipment to stability control systems.

"We need to keep pressure on these initiatives," said Jim Hall, a safety consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "I've seen plans introduced before that were merely an attempt to buy time."

Shuster, who counts Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, as a co-sponsor, expressed slight dismay that the Transportation Department included some mandated changes. But he said his bill aligned best with the department's plan.

"My legislation can play a role in this regard because it sets forth a public process based on sound science," he said.

The most likely vehicle for either piece of legislation will be a larger bill that outlines plans for the nation's roads and transit systems. Unlike the stand-alone bus safety bills, which can wallow in committees, the transportation bill must be passed at some point.

Families of bus accident victims remain hopeful that regulations – from Congress or elsewhere – will come soon.

"If Congress had acted upon this in 2007, I'm sure that my mother would not have been killed," said Yen-Chi Le, whose mother, Catherine Tuong Lam, died in the Sherman crash. "I'm sure of it."