House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) signaled this week that he wants to get a major highway and transit bill through Congress as soon as next year, along with a tax code overhaul that some also think could provide the revenue a multi-year surface transportation measure would need.
Boehner told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that among things a Republican-controlled Congress and President Obama could achieve together next year “tax reform, a big highway bill, certainly are in the realm of doable.”
The Speaker was asked what he would say to the president come January 2015, when Boehner expects the GOP to have taken over the Senate and added to its House majority. He said he’d ask if Obama wants his final two years as president to be like the past four “where we just butt heads,” while areas of “common ground” offer chances for legislation like tax and highway bills.
“I didn’t come to Washington to make noise,” Boehner said. “I went there to do something on behalf of my country. And I think the president ran for office to do something on behalf of the country. And it’s up to us to see where the common ground is.”
Until now, some transportation specialists have doubted Congress would be able to pass a long-term highway/transit bill before current program authorization runs out next May, since it would require lawmakers in the new Congress to quickly decide how to raise tens of billions more for the Highway Trust Fund. Some have speculated that Congress might instead pass a series of short extensions, and perhaps push off a multi-year highway bill until after the 2016 presidential election.
However, Boehner’s listing of both highway and tax legislation as areas of potential “common ground” with the president suggests congressional leaders could push through a long-term bill in 2015.
His comment could also focus more attention on using tax changes to replenish the trust fund. Both Obama and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) have proposed paying for road and transit programs by tapping an expected windfall of corporate tax receipts that could come from using tax breaks to entice companies to bring home some of their overseas profits.
And Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who could chair Ways and Means in the next Congress, told Fox Business on Monday the idea of using tax reform to bolster infrastructure spending “has a lot of merit” if paired with lower tax rates.