Tom Warne Report, 20 March 2014
President Obama has proposed funding for transportation to extend beyond his time in office. On Feb. 26, he called for a four-year, $302 billion investment in the nation’s infrastructure system.
The current funding program, MAP-21, is set to expire Sept. 30. Many members of Congress are drafting new bills that go five or six years, rather than a four-year plan. A longer duration of the bill would give states more certainty,allowing them to plan and implement federally funded transportation projects.
Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also unveiled a new round of TIGER grants, giving state, regional and local governments the ability to contend for $600 million. TIGER, which stands for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, grant program was initiated under the 2009 economic stimulus bill.
Obama said his new proposal aims to close “unfair” tax loopholes, and does not use a fuel-tax hike as a potential funding tool. Federal fuel tax increases have also recently been dismissed as a viable funding tool by Congressional transportation leaders, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Boxer is pushing for a wholesale tax on oil production to pay for transportation work, which may include a possible tax on vehicle miles traveled or VMT.
House leadership has said a vote on a transportation bill is expected this summer, and Senate leadership is working to have parts of the bill ready to vote on by April.
This story is not news to any of us in the business. What has been interesting to me has been the flood of stories in local publications noting their project being part of the President’s budget, as though they are on the cusp of moving to construction. Unfortunately, there is much more needed than a line in the President’s budget to fund our nation’s infrastructure. So far, the overall funding plan is as real as a Disney animated feature. JN