AASHTO Journal, 23 March 2012
The House Budget Committee this week passed a proposed federal budget that would significantly reduce Highway Trust Fund spending by cutting budget authority for function 400 (which includes the highway and transit programs as well as additional items) from $88.6 billion this year to just $57.1 billion in FY 2013, a 36 percent reduction.
Transportation Weekly this week reported that the $57.1 billion would include both discretionary spending from the Appropriations Committee and contract authority from the Highway Trust Fund and other forms of mandatory spending from authorizing committees.
The House budget would allow for the creation of a deficit neutral reserve fund for transportation, which would permit the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Ways and Means Committee, and other committees to identify funding that could maintain the Highway Trust Fund through FY 2022, as long as the revenue did not add to the federal deficit.
Last month President Barack Obama proposed a $3.8 trillion Fiscal Year 2013 budget that included $74 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation and recommended a six-year surface transportation reauthorization totaling $476 billion.
The administration proposed paying for the six-year bill using money saved from reduced military operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Highway Trust Fund money.