Federal highway solution needed

The Highway Trust Fund didn’t expire in July thanks to a last-ditch three-month extension passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Obama. But that extension reaches its end in October, and Congress seems no closer to coming up with a serious long-term solution.

The Highway Trust Fund uses revenue from the federal gas tax to distribute more than $50 billion per year in transportation grants for states to build roads and provide for mass transit and other infrastructure projects.

But people pay less and less in gas taxes each year thanks to increased vehicle efficiency, different driving habits and the fact that the tax isn’t indexed to inflation. As a result, the Highway Trust Fund faces insolvency, and Congress has repeatedly refused to put forward a long-term plan to bring it back into good standing.

Not only does that refusal demonstrate serious fiscal irresponsibility, but it makes it incredibly difficult for states and municipalities to accurately plan and budget for major transportation infrastructure projects.

The July 31 deadline for extending the fund was set by a previous May extension, which itself was set by a 10-month extension from last year. In total, Congress has offered more than two dozen piecemeal efforts since the last long-term plan expired in 2009.

A Senate plan passed late in July would cobble together highway funding for three years by reducing dividends banks receive from the Federal Reserve and selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, among other changes. It also ties in unrelated issues like reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank and funding for Veterans Affairs.

But it’s still essentially a short-term solution to a long-term problem, and the House has already announced it won’t take up the bill.

The most obvious immediate fix would be to raise the federal gas tax. It’s a straightforward user fee, and nobody has been able to offer a more reasonable alternative so far. And October will be here before you know it.

Transportation represents a core government function, and one upon which the entire national economy depends on a daily basis. The cost of maintaining the nation’s transportation infrastructure rises each year that Congress fails to fully address future funding.

Extensions and half-measures just won’t cut it any longer. Congress must take a different road

View the original content and more from this author here: http://ift.tt/1Wc7Xzj

from critical infrastructure alliance http://ift.tt/1ISAC2j
via IFTTT