AASHTO Journal, 28 February 2014
The Highway Trust Fund is in real danger and has to be preserved in order to make sure that transportation funding is available for state transportation departments, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said during the opening plenary session of the annual AASHTO Washington Briefing held this week in Washington, DC.
Boxer spoke about a variety of issues related to the reauthorization of current surface transportation bill, MAP-21, which expires on Sept. 30.
“We need to save the Highway Trust Fund. Let me stress that — we need to save it. It is threatened with extinction. We’re going to have to fight hard to keep it going the next five or six years at least,” Boxer said. “We don’t want to give up the HTF because if we lose it, we have to battle against everything else in appropriations, and there are a lot of other important things that go through that process.”
Boxer also reiterated her desire to get a transportation funding bill through her committee soon, stressing recent Congressional Budget Office projections that show the HTF could run out of funding as early as August (see related AASHTO Journal story here). Boxer said she’s hoping for a five- to six-year reauthorization at current spending levels (plus inflation) with a focus on programs like TIFIA.
“Now that we’ve fought and agreed on those reforms [in MAP-21], our job should be relatively easy—if it wasn’t for the fact that we’re facing a [HTF] shortfall,” Boxer said. “Let me be clear—the pending HTF shortfall must be addressed by an infusion of funds, otherwise CBO estimates obligations for 2015 would need to be reduced to zero. Only old projects could be funded—no new projects. I’ve begun work on the new bill. It is going well. I have sat down with every single member of my committee and we know what the challenges are. I plan to mark up a bill in April.”
While Boxer said she would do everything she could to get the bill done and done early in the Senate EPW Committee, she also said much of the work is to be done in other committees and on the other side of the Capitol.
“Our committee authorizes the program, not the funding,” Boxer said, though she also said she was working with the Senate Committee on Finance on a transportation bill. But the battle over finding funding for transportation could be a difficult one. “There is low support for raising the gas tax, and there is no way we’re cutting spending. We have to be creative and pragmatic. Many out there are working in tax reform and want a long-term solution.”
Boxer concluded her remarks by asking state DOT representatives to keep speaking with their congressional delegation and telling them what would happen to their state if a long-term, adequately funded transportation bill is not passed before a HTF shortfall is reached.
“A number of states have certainly acted without us [the federal government], but they need us to leverage their programs. The states have been good models on this… Your voices are so important. I urge you to speak to everyone who will listen to you about this. Your message will be different for every member of Congress, as this is not a one size fits all message,” Boxer said, stressing the importance of a federal role in transportation and the need for her colleagues to understand that. “A year-long fix is not good for us. You can’t plan with one year, can’t lurch from year to year. All we’re asking for is certainty. Let’s come together around a bill at current levels—that’s what we need to do.”
A video of Boxer’s full remarks at the AASHTO Washington Briefing is available at TransportationTV.org.