White House sends transportation funding bill to Congress

White House sends transportation funding bill to Congress

Even though Republicans have said the $302 billion transportation bill President Obama sent to Congress is dead-on-arrival, at least there is a bill. Serious discussion of transportation funding can now begin especially with the Highway Trust Fund projected to run out of money as early as August of this year with the current transportation bill due to expire in September.

–Failing to act before the Highway Trust Fund runs out is unacceptable and unaffordable,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

The problem for Republicans is that the White House bill relies on money from corporate tax reform. The bill would authorize $75.5 billion in annual spending over four years, $20 billion more than the current levels. It would also lift the longstanding ban on states levying tolls on interstate highways.

Even Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and a supporter of Obamaês infrastructure funding efforts, admitted it would be hard to get the bill passed, reports The Hill. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has also introduced a transportation bill, but Republicans have shown no support for that, either.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Automobile Association, among others, have pushed for an increase in the gas tax. The tax, which has traditionally funded the Highway Trust Fund, has not been raised in 20 years. But neither side of the aisle has shown any support for doing so now. It all adds up to the current stalemate with a transportation funding crisis.