The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) top policy official, Peter Rogoff, reported that the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) may run short of funding earlier than previously projected. Under the new assumptions, Rogoff reports that the DOT may be unable to meet obligations as early as July, a month sooner than anticipated.
If the HTF dips below $4 billion, the DOT has stated that they will stop funding reimbursements for roads and bridges, and all transit funding reimbursements would be curtailed if the HTF falls below $1 billion. The issue of HTF insolvency is the major lynchpin in discussions over reauthorization of the federal surface transportation bill, known as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). MAP-21 is set to expire this year at the end of September, which has policy makers scrambling to develop a funding solution. House Republicans and Senate Democrats agree that Congress must find a way to fund a long-term surface transportation measure, although they have historically been unable to reach an agreement over how to fund the program.
RCRC has recently reported on President Obama’s and House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s (R-Michigan) transportation proposals, which both focus on paying for the federal transportation program largely through corporate tax reform, but neither proposal is likely to see any real movement before MAP-21 expires. Instead, it is likely Congress will pass another short-term funding extension this summer to maintain the HTF and provide more time to negotiate a funding proposal for a much longer-term transportation program.
For additional information, please contact RCRC Legislative Analyst Randall Echevarria at 916.447.4806 or rechevarria@rcrcnet.org.