Earlier this week, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 2353, known as the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, sponsored by Representatives Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), and Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), to provide a temporary extension to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Senate leadership has stated they will take action to pass the measure before they depart for Memorial Day Recess and the President is expected to sign the bill to avoid a shutdown of the federal surface transportation program.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx recently reported that the HTF is scheduled to become insolvent by the end of July/early August, but would be unable to use any available funding past the current May 31, 2015 expiration date unless Congress authorized the use the funds. H.R. 2353 authorizes spending of existing HTF funding beyond the current expiration date through the end of July. Just to be clear, H.R. 2353 does not provide any new transportation revenues. Secretary Foxx has stated that if Congress fails to provide the HTF with additional revenues, the Department would be forced to implement cash management procedures to scale back the frequency and amount of reimbursements to states and local governments. Since H.R. 2353 does not provide additional revenues into the system, RCRC anticipates that, absent Congressional action to extend the program, as we approach the July expiration date the Department will again be considering how to address state and local reimbursements.
RCRC continues our federal advocacy efforts urging Congress to provide a long-term reauthorization of the federal HTF and surface transportation program, and we continue to advocate for dedicated funding for locally-owned on-system bridges and high-risk rural roads funding.
If counties have any questions or concerns with the draft document, please contact RCRC Legislative Analyst Randall Echevarria at 916.447.4806 or rechevarria@rcrcnet.org.