No worries Highways funded for another two weeks

No worries Highways funded for another two weeks

Once again, the House was caught short in its effort to pass a long-term transportation bill. The short-term patches keep getting shorter, and the one passed this week expires December 4.

Although House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) said –good progress” had been made on a long-term funding measure, it wasnêt enough. Earlier this fall, the House passed a bill that covered six years, but provided funding for only three.

A major obstacle is the gas tax. It hasnêt been raised in more than 20 years, and almost no one wants to vote to raise it now, even though that would be the simplest and most logical fix, as a user fee. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has said the federal government should get out of the infrastructure business altogether and the gas tax should be abolished.