On Wednesday, the House approved H.R. 3038, the “Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, Part II” by a 312-119 vote. The bill extends highway and transit program authorization until December 18, 2015 and transfers $8.07 billion from the general fund into the Highway Trust Fund. The transfer allows highway funding to continue at current levels past the end of the fiscal year and into most of the first quarter of FY 2016.
As detailed below, the Senate is preparing to start consideration of a long-term transportation reauthorization bill. Now is the time to contact your Senators!
Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) this week introduced the "Highway Trust Fund Certainty Act," legislation that would increase the federal motor fuels tax and provide an income tax credit to offset the cost of the increase to the average tax payer. Rice is a self- proclaimed conservative and his support for the motor fuels tax increase is significant. In a letter to other House members urging support for the bill Rep. Rice said, "As Congress has debated the Highway Trust Fund insolvency, two things have become clear: a user-fee system is the most reasonable and reliable, and there are no "silver bullet" revenue streams available."
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated that he wants the Senate to start work on a highway bill next week. However, it is unclear whether the majority leader has identified a specific source of Highway Trust Fund revenue to pay for a multiyear transportation bill.
The United States Department of Transportation recently updated its Highway Trust Fund Ticker, and the projections are not good. If Congress fails to intervene, the highway account will dip below its critical $4 billion balance by the end of July and will be insolvent the first week of September. According to the department, if no new revenue is found for the trust fund, federal officials may consider implementing cash management procedures to manage the flow of federal dollars. If that happens, reimbursements to states for infrastructure work will be limited to the available cash in the trust fund.
This week, two congressional committees held hearings exploring the use of repatriation to fill the Highway Trust Fund revenue gap and additional financing for transportation infrastructure, respectively. Congress must identify sources of revenue to fill the gap and pass a long-term transportation bill before the end of July, when the current extension expires, in order to keep highway & bridge construction projects running. 鶹Ƶcontinues to push for a permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund and supports innovative financing options that would increase the use of public-private partnerships, among other measures, to address our nation’s transportation infrastructure needs.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the AGC-supported DRIVE Act, a six-year bill with increased funding recommendations and several new program initiatives. The Committee has jurisdiction over the highway portion of the legislation and now must await action by the Finance Committee on the revenue portion, the Banking Committee on the transit segments, and the Commerce Committee on safety.
Nevertheless, it was an important first step in the process. 鶹ƵCEO Stephen Sandherr participated in a press conference with the bill’s primary sponsors, Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), where Sandherr noted that getting a long-term bill is vital and failure to act will have real impact on commuters’ wallets and the economy’s performance.
The 鶹Ƶco-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition launched a new nationwide advertising push this week designed to encourage Congress to fix the Highway Trust Fund. The new campaign, which includes TV and radio spots, as well as targeted digital advertising, is being targeted at members of Congress and politically active commuters in key Congressional districts. These commuters are being asked to sign a new petition that can be found on FixTheTrustFund.org. The advertising effort is designed to complement AGC's Drive Better Roads campaign and similar efforts being coordinated by other member organizations of the Coalition.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) announced that the committee will hold a hearing on long-term financing of the Highway Trust Fund. The hearing will take place Wednesday, June 17 and, according to the announcement, will explore the feasibility of various ideas to provide a sustainable long-term solution to the Highway Trust Fund shortfall. It was not announced who the witnesses will be. 鶹Ƶwill once again provide the committee with suggestions for increasing trust fund revenue while maintaining the user-fee concept.
This week, by a vote of 216-210, the House approved the FY 2016 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill. The bill includes funding for the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other related agencies. The legislation assumes that Congress will take action to provide the necessary revenue for the Highway Trust Fund to support the highway and transit funding levels, noted below.