Time ticking away for Highway Trust Fund fix, but there is still hope
July 17th, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
Despite another action-packed week on the Hill, a long-term, sustainable funding solution for our nation’s transportation network still is not final. While the House voted for a short-term extension until December, there’s still hope that the Senate’s multi-year bill, the DRIVE Act, will prevail before the July 31 deadline. The House passed an $8.1 billion plan to fund the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through December 18 by dedicating airport security fees and adjusting tax rules to keep the program solvent. While a short-term funding patch is better than shutting down the program and canceling projects, the House proposal is far short of the ideal: a well-funded, six-year highway and transit bill. Furthermore, the December punt would restart the countdown clock towards finding a long-term solution and extend construction uncertainty for five more months. The Senate will move towards debate on its six-year plan, the DRIVE Act, on Tuesday, July 21. Should that vote succeed, Senate leaders will then quickly work to compile the remaining policy pieces necessary to form a comprehensive six-year road, bridge and transit bill before the July 31 legislative deadline. In recent days, senators have stated publicly that they are not optimistic about being able to fully fund the six-year DRIVE Act by July 31, but they have indicated they will try and generate as much funding as possible to get the maximum length while still growing the program. In a roundtable discussion with reporters on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that, “All the politics have all shaped around getting back to baseline funding, as if baseline funding is going to solve our problems. Meanwhile, the public is seeing conditions get worse and worse and worse, and so they’re wondering, ‘Why am I paying into this system and it’s getting worse?’” ASCE’s Failure to Act Transportation Study supports this claim. While Congress is attempting to agree on the right funding solution, states are paying the price for Washington’s lack of action. On Tuesday, The USDOT notified states that federal funding for state transportation projects will run critically low starting sometime in August. USDOT also announced road and bridge conditions in each state, utilizing ASCE data to make the case for investment. States like Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Mississippi, Oklahoma and others are beginning to realize how lack of federal funding and certainty affects their state’s infrastructure needs. Without a long-term funding solution, state infrastructure projects will continue to be negatively impacted. With only two weeks left before the deadline to reauthorize the federal surface transportation program, it is more critical than ever before that Congress act quickly to pass a multi-year bill with a long-term funding solution before July 31. Write a letter, call your Senators’ and Representatives’ offices, and tweet using #FixTheTrustFund to remind your representation in Washington that they have a job to do and a deadline fast approaching.Five (More) Myths About the Highway Trust Fund
July 15th, 2015 | By: Becky Moylan
1. Devolving the federal program to the states is a viable option Devolution is the idea of eliminating the federal government’s ability to collect the current 18.4 cents per gallon in federal gasoline taxes (absent a few cents to remain dedicated toward maintaining the Interstate Highway System) and transferring all authority over these programs to the state. This act would represent one of the single greatest unfunded mandates at nearly $50 billion—a violation of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995. The current system empowers states by making the federal role a reimbursement process, allowing states to make their own planning and building decisions while also having some overall coordination and safety standards among states. Many states have raised their own gas taxes recently, essentially catching up the purchasing power of their current gas tax rates with inflation since they were last adjusted. For example, Iowa had not raised its gas tax since 1989 and its 10-cent increase was a hard fought battle. To ask states to pick up the tab for the federal role—which on average is 52% of the state’s capital budget each year—would be a huge burden to states’ budgets. On average, states would need to raise their gas tax by 23 cents or significantly cut their transportation program. It would not be the easy task that the proponents of devolution make it out to be. Instead, our roads, bridges and transit would continue to deteriorate and the backlog of projects would grow longer and the system will become patchwork if some states fail to make investments. 2. Transportation has become a partisan issue Transportation has historically been a bipartisan issue, and passing a multi-year, properly funded transportation bill will only be accomplished through bipartisan cooperation. In the past year, there have been several bipartisan proposals to help address the Highway Trust Fund crisis. Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Tom Carper (D-DE) have proposed a plan. In the House, Reps. Renacci (R-OH), Pascrell (D-NJ), Ribble (R-WI), and Lipinski (D-IL) have introduced the Bridge to Sustainable Infrastructure Act. Before the Independence Day Recess, the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works unanimously passed the DRIVE Act out of committee. Both sides of the aisle acknowledge that our transportation system is ailing and that something must be done. Fixing the Highway Trust Fund is, at its heart, a bipartisan endeavor. 3. Flat funding is fine If Congress does not grow the program and increase federal funding levels in the next multiyear transportation bill, then our economy will continue to suffer. In 2011, ASCE released an economic study on transportation titled Failure to Act, which details how underinvesting in transportation is a drag on our economy. The study outlined what the economic ramifications will be by 2020 if status quo funding levels continue. Among them, we revealed that America’s GDP will underperform by $897 billion in total by 2020 and each family’s budget loses $1,060 each year in disposable income—money every American household has already lost and will continue to lose if we don’t improve our transportation network. Underinvestment in transportation will cost our economy 877,000 jobs in the year 2020. Continuing to fund at current levels for the next several years will neither improve our aging transportation network, nor grow the economy 4. A gas tax is not politically possible Several states have recently acted in bipartisan fashion to pass gas tax increases. In those states, 90% of those who voted in favor the gas tax increase got reelected in the following election. And many were conservative states, like Arkansas, which needed to see a high return on investment. A poll by the Mineta Transportation Institute demonstrated that people are willing to pay more in gas taxes if it goes to improving transportation. This study shows that voters recognize the connection between potholed roads and aging bridges and underinvestment. In addition, the impact of a gas tax on gas prices is not as direct as sometimes thought. A recent study by ARTBA finds that gas tax increases have very little impact on the overall price of a gallon of gas. CBO projects that the Highway Trust fund’ revenue shortfall will be $8 billion at the end of this year and be between $85 billion and $90 billion by May 31, 2021. There is no reason to add to the national debt and our burden on future generations when raising the gas tax is a deficit-neutral options. 5. We can kick the can again Two-month stopgaps hurt the economy and American business. For two consecutive years, the summer highway and transit construction season has taken a hit because of the uncertainty surrounding the federal program. For example, just in the last few weeks and months, several states have announced they are canceling or delaying projects until Congress passes a multi-year bill. These short-term extensions not only delay existing projects in the pipeline but prevent major projects from being considered in light of the lack of a clear federal funding commitment. Ultimately the lack of certainty hinders our nation’s ability to dream big on ways to modernize our infrastructure and create the foundation for the 21st century economy. See the original posts 10 Myths About the Highway Trust Fund.Congressional Focus Remains on Highway & Transit Bill
July 13th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This week both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate will gear-up over the future of federal highway and transit funding and policy. The House is expected to approve a six-month extension of current policy, which would cost approximately $9 billion. The Senate is expected to take-up highway legislation later this week, but it remains unclear to length and scope of legislation that they will be pursuing. Majority Leader McConnell has expressed support for a multi-year bill, possibly some form of the DRIVE Act. However, other Senators have discussed the option of extending the current policy to the end of the year with the hopes of dedicated revenues to transportation from international tax reform. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is set to mark-up its safety, freight and rail portions of the bill this Wednesday morning. It remains unclear when or if the Senate Banking Committee will mark-up its transit portion of the bill. Last week, Congressman Tom Rice (R-7-SC) introduced the H.R. 2971, “The Highway Trust Fund Certainty Act”, which would raise federal motor fuels taxes by approximately 10 cents per gallon and index that rate to inflation in order to address the current annual Highway Trust Fund shortfall. In a letter to the Congressman, ASCE commended Rep. Rice’s leadership on this issue, but noted that additional federal investment will still be required to meet our nation’s long-term surface transportation infrastructure needs. You can urge Congress to #FixTheTrustFund by the July 31 legislative deadline in the following ways:- Send a request today to meet with your members of Congress: Here are some helpful hints and how to set up a “back home” meeting.
- Contact your Member of Congress via letter or phone call: If you can’t meet in person, send your member of Congress a quick letter about the Highway Trust Fund or give their office a call and ask for the staff that handles transportation. Look up their number and get talking points here.
- Communicate with your member of Congress via social media: Most members of Congress have Facebook and Twitter pages. In addition to calling or writing a letter, urge them to #FixTheTrustFund on social media.
Gas Tax Gets New Attention
July 10th, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
The hour glass is running thinner on the federal surface transportation program. Congress has only three weeks left to pass a robust, multiyear surface transportation bill before the self-imposed deadline. This week ASCE joined with the American Road and Transportation Builders Association in sponsoring an ad directed at Congress and the President, asking that they continue the legacy of federal investment in transportation. One Congressman introduced legislation this week that could be an answer to that call. Republican Rep. Tom Rice’s legislation, “The Highway Trust Fund Certainty Act,” would raise the federal gas tax by 10.1 cents-per-gallon and index the rate to inflation. This rate would increase Trust Fund revenues by $17 billion—addressing the current funding shortfall and allowing slight growth to the program. In a letter to the Congressman, ASCE commended Rep. Rice’s leadership on this issue, but noted that additional federal investment will still be required to meet our nation’s long-term surface transportation infrastructure needs. Another gas tax increase proposal, the UPDATE Act, also continues to gain supporters and now has 35 co-sponsors. Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is urging Congress to step up and pass a long-term highway funding bill. “We’ve got some problems. I would label it a crisis — a legitimate, disturbing and alarming crisis in our infrastructure system,” Foxx told a small group of reporters at the department’s headquarters Wednesday. He also warned that the administration will begin to notify states about the threat to their transportation funding if Congress doesn’t pass a long-term extension soon. States like Alabama, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Missouri and more are publicly acknowledging their dire infrastructure needs and have begun to halt construction due to the uncertainty of federal funding. With three weeks left, it’s important that your Members of Congress hear from you about why they must work together to come up with a long-term funding solution before July 31 in order to #FixTheTrustFund. Write a letter, call you Senators’ and Representative’s offices, and tweet using #FixTheTrustFund to remind your representation in Washington they have a job to do and a deadline fast approaching.#FIXTHETRUSTFUND This Week: Time for Congress’ Next Move
July 6th, 2015 | By: Becky Moylan
Congress returns to D.C. this week, and we’re watching the Senate (where the most promising legislation was recently passed through the EPW Committee) to see if the Senate Commerce Committee or the Senate Banking Committee will start to mark-up their portions of the highway and transit bill. However to truly move forward, Senate leadership and the Senate Finance Committee need to find the revenue to move the DRIVE Act forward.
With just 16 working days with both chambers in session before the July 31 deadline, it’s important that Congress hear from you. Drive Congress to #FixTheTrustFund in the following ways:
Holiday Travel Will Further Stress Nation’s Ailing Highways
July 2nd, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
With Independence Day around the corner, now is a good time to reflect upon the freedoms we have enjoyed for the past 239 years. To this day, our national interstate highway system represents the freedom of mobility that we enjoy as Americans. This holiday weekend, AAA is predicting that nearly 42 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home on the nation’s roads and highways. Given the dire condition and investment needs of our surface transportation, Congress must remember that ultimately they are responsible for maintaining and modernizing our transportation network. Despite Congress’ constitutional responsibility to fund surface transportation, our lack of federal road, bridge and transit funding means has led many states to step up transportation funding themselves. Six states have increased their gas tax starting July 1, including Idaho, Georgia, Maryland, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Vermont. Earlier this week, Washington joined other states this year in passing a transportation bill that includes a gas tax increase of 12 cents per gallon. This is reflective of the trend noted recently in Huffington Post about the many states that have enacted transportation funding this year, while another 16 are in the process of doing so. These actions will “generate billions of additional dollars” for local transit and highway projects. As motorists hit the roads this weekend, let’s hope that the traffic headaches they will certainly face will motivate Congress to come up with a funding solution to #FixTheTrustFund.Momentum to DRIVE up infrastructure funding
June 26th, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
With a new surface transportation re-authorization bill on the table, the process to pass a long-term bill before Congress’ July 31 deadline is materializing. This week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a six-year, $278 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill called the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act. This bipartisan bill would increase funding for highway programs by approximately $2.5 billion per year. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing, which explored federal, state and local financing options for road, bridge, and transit projects. After Congress returns from the Independence Day recess, it is possible that additional Senate committees will act to put the final pieces of the transportation bill into place before the July 31 deadline. Funding the bill is the key challenge, with no consensus yet on where to come up with the approximately $100 billion necessary to fund the DRIVE Act. While Congress is working on funding a long-term bill, more states are being affected by the lack of certainty. As a reminder of why our country desperately needs to increase investment into the program, The Washington Post featured TRIP’s latest analysis on the best and worst road conditions in the nation, showing that 28 percent of our nation’s roadways are in “poor” condition. Drivers in six states plus the District of Columbia can expect to pay well over $600 a year in extra vehicle upkeep costs due to bad roads, and drivers in Oklahoma and California will pay up to $760 per year. These dire road needs nation-wide demonstrate it’s time for us to modernize our transportation network, and further prove that states cannot wait for Congress to act. Several states are struggling to fund much-needed state infrastructure projects and taking infrastructure funding matters into their own hands. In Arizona, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton discussed how he recognizes that improving infrastructure will take all levels of government—and that Congress must do its part by passing a multiyear surface transportation bill., In Maryland, Governor Hogan announced that the state would allocate $1.97 billion for road, bridge and highway improvement projects, emphasizing that “building, maintaining and fixing Maryland’s roads and bridges is our top transportation priority.” Similarly, Arkansas’ and Delaware’s local state construction projects are stalled due to uncertainty of federal highway funding. With the July 31 deadline quickly approaching, it is more critical than ever to urge Congress to pass a sustainable, long-term funding proposal that will #FixTheTrustFund.Senate Committee Passes Surface Transportation Bill
June 24th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Today, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) unanimously approved a six-year, $278 billion federal highway portion of the surface transportation authorization bill, the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act. The DRIVE Act was unveiled earlier this week by EPW Committee leaders Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK), Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Subcommittee Chairman David Vitter (R-LA) and committee member Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE).
The bill would increase funding levels for highway programs by approximately $2.5 billion per year. The responsibility to identify how to pay for that increase, along with the annual Highway Trust Fund shortfall of $15 billion, belongs to the Senate Finance Committee. Tomorrow the Finance Committee will hold a hearing on transportation financing, where in testimony to the Committee ASCE underscored the importance of public support for funding as necessary to improving future financing opportunities. While Finance is still determining how they would like to pay for the DRIVE Act, in a recent interview with ASCE, Chairman Inhofe noted that he believes that General Fund revenues plus dollars from any corporate repatriation tax changes could address the funding gap. In addition to Finance, there are a few other Senate committees that need to act before the July 31 deadline to approve their transportation policy pieces, like transit and driver safety items.
ASCE sent a support letter to Senate leaders in favor of the DRIVE Act and President Bob Stevens issued a statement where he said, “The DRIVE Act achieves many of the goals that we as civil engineers believe must be addressed in the next surface transportation reauthorization and accomplishes these goals in a bipartisan fashion.” Some of the policy items contained in the DRIVE Act that ASCE supports include:
- Increased program funding over a six-year period;
- Multi-year program certainty that will help states and localities better plan and deliver projects;
- Prioritizing funding for bridge maintenance and repair;
- A focus on Interstate Highway System maintenance;
- Establishment of a new freight program, funded at $2 billion annually, to improve goods movement;
- Establishment of a new competitive grant program for large highway projects;
- Increased accounting and reader-friendly reporting of how Highway Trust Fund dollars are spent;
- Accelerated project delivery reforms aimed to improve collaboration between agencies and create deadlines for agency action(s);
- An option for rural areas to bundle small projects such as bridges to increase efficiency;
- Encouragement of agencies on resilience planning and natural disaster risk reduction;
- Expanding tolling to be available for use on all new Interstate Highway System lane construction projects;
- Creating a new intelligent transportation systems grant to accelerate technology deployment; and
- Providing grants to states for continued and expanded pilot testing of future road user fee collection systems.
#FixTheTrustFund This Week: Keeping the U.S. from Driving into Potholes
June 22nd, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) was set up in 1956 to fund the build and maintain a transportation network nationwide. Today, it is the national bank account for roads, bridges and transit that reimburses states for eligible projects. Inaction by Congress has put the Highway Trust Fund in jeopardy, and with a month left before the temporary funding fix runs out on July 31st, Congress is nowhere near to closing a deal to generate sustainable revenue for the nation’s highway, bridge, and transit systems – investments vital to the health of our recovering economy. #FixTheTrustFund is a call to action to solve this transportation problem today. This week Congress is slated to step up hearings on transportation. Here’s what we’ll be watching in national campaign to #FixTheTrustFund this week: June 23, 10 a.m.: Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee markup of a fiscal 2016 transportation spending measure. (Listen live) June 24, 9:30 a.m.: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to mark up the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy, or DRIVE, Act. (Info) What to watch for: With the current strong bipartisan consensus, we expect the mark-up to go smoothly. That action will put pressure on the other authorizing committees and the Senate Finance Committee to secure their pieces of the bill before the July 31 legislative deadline. The Senate the Finance Committee will hold a hearing on private sector investment and public-private partnerships with the former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels and current Colorado DOT chief Shailen Bhatt. Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) is expected to highlight his new bipartisan bill that would expand tax-exempt private activity bonds and create a new federal infrastructure tax credit. June 24, 2 p.m.: House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures hearing on the “taxation of the repatriation of foreign earnings as a funding mechanism for a multiyear highway bill.” (Info) What to watch: Across the Capitol in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures will hold a hearing on the prospect of taxing U.S. corporate foreign earnings – otherwise known as repatriation – for deposit in the HTF, which the Obama Administration supports. This funding fix does not have unanimous support on either the Republican or Democratic side of the aisle, so expect some internal party disagreements on this as a solution along with some opposition from large, multinational corporations who will be on the hook to pay the tax. June 24, 2 p.m.: House Transportation and Infrastructure Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing on “Meeting the Transportation Needs of Rural America.” (Watch live) June 25, 10 a.m.: Senate Finance Committee hearing on exploring ways that private financing could back infrastructure projects. (Info) Help Us #FixTheTrustFund 1. Tell Congress that it’s time to fix the Highway Trust Fund and increase our investment into transportation before the July deadline. 2. If you’re in MD, OR, CO, TX or WI, attend a Town Hall Meeting this week and ask your Member of Congress about their ideas on how to fix the Highway Trust Fund.| 6/24/2015 | Rep. Harris (R-MD-1) | This meeting is conducted by telephone.For more information on this meeting, follow this link: vekeo.com/event/congressman-andy-harris-06242015/?awesm=vekeo.buzz_t1u/ | Starts at 6:45 pm |
| 6/27/2015 | Sen. Wyden (D-OR) | Hood River Valley Adult Center2010 Sterling Dr.Hood River, OR 97031 | Starts at 1:00 pm |
| 6/27/2015 | Rep. Perlmutter (D-CO-7) | Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage4900 Kipling St.Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 | Starts at 10:00 am |
| 6/27/2015 | Rep. Sessions (R-TX-32) | Richland CollegeGarland Campus675 West Walnut StreetGarland, TX 75040-5023This meeting requires an RSVP. Register online.For more information on this meeting, follow this link: sessions.house.gov/index.cfm/june-town-hall | Starts at 11:00 am |
| 06/28/2015 | Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5th ) | Brookfield Public Safety Building 2100 North Calhoun Road Brookfield, WI 53005For more information on this meeting, follow this link: sensenbrenner.house.gov/contact/ | Starts at 7:00 pm |
The Taxman Cometh
June 19th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected balance of the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) as of March 2015, which indicates HTF insolvency by September 2015.
