Federal Highway Fund To Run Out of Money
‘An important account in the federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money this month, which could hamper completion of road and bridge construction projects across the country, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said,’ the New York Times reported Friday.
Ms. Peters said that ‘the Transportation Department will have to delay payments for the local projects, or reduce their amount’ because the fund is draining away so fast.
Ms. Peters said her department will begin to dole out money from the fund on a pro-rated basis. For instance, if there are only enough funds to cover 80 percent of the payment requests the department receives for federally financed local projects, the agency will pay only 80 percent of each request.
“Time and again, the president has warned Congress of the pending shortfall and submitted fiscally prudent budgets to close the gap,” Ms. Peters said.
‘One possible solution,’ the article goes on to say, ‘would be to transfer money to the highway account from the separate account that the trust fund maintains to finance mass transit projects.’ Sadly, ‘that account is much smaller and in any case, Ms. Peters said such a transfer would merely rob Peter to pay Paul. Lawmakers from large cities that rely on trust-fund aid for their transit systems could be expected to resist a transfer.’
In July, the House passed a bill that would use $8 billion of general federal revenue — from income and other taxes, not the dedicated motor fuel tax — to finance highway projects. But the measure has not gained much traction in the Senate, and the White House has been hostile to it in any event. Whether some positions will change, as Congress returns to the capital and the election campaign grows hotter, remains to be seen.
And so one suddenly understands why Americans complain so often about their government.
This is evidence that America’s obsession with low taxes will come back to bite us big time. National infrastructure is absolutely critical to a well functioning and growing economy.
Note that McCain wanted to actually remove the fuel tax for a few months, which would have made this problem even worse.
Right, that’s all we need Kevin - more taxes. Never mind the redirection away from funds that were for infrastructure - never mind the toll’s people pay to use certain highways are spent on anything but infrastructure.Yet - you want more taxes rather than responsible spending.