The House and Senate continue to consider a variety of solutions to bring solvency to the Highway Trust Fund, the federal government’s primary source of revenue for highway and bridge projects. The latest proposal from the House would combine an extension of highway and transit programs with the elimination of most Saturday mail delivery service, and would use the projected “savings” to off-set a projected $12 billion shortfall in the highway and transit accounts. The House proposal did not have support in the Senate, where Senator Boxer (Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee) has stated the House proposal would be “a jobs killer” and it would not provide the level of certainty states and local governments need to plan and prioritize transportation projects.
Additionally, Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware), who chairs both the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over highways and the full Senate committee with jurisdiction over postal reform, expressed his strong opposition to the proposal. On the House side, with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) losing his recent election, and the fact that other House leaders were opposed to the proposal, they announced late today that they have decided to drop the proposal altogether. The House is now considering other potential off-sets, including another round of pension changes and increases in the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation minimums. The Senate has yet to come out with their funding proposal, but the Senate Finance Committee is considering a variety of proposals that would provide both a short-term and long-term fix to the HTF. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) does not believe there is enough time for Congress to consider a longer-term fix and plans to have the Committee review a short-term proposal to provide six months of funding prior to the July recess when Congress goes on break. The Department of Transportation continues to report that the HTF will become insolvent some time during the mid-summer.
For additional information, please contact RCRC Legislative Analyst Randall Echevarria at (916) 447-4806 orrechevarria@rcrcnet.org.