AASHTO Journal, 1 May 2015
Top House members said they expect Congress to pass a short-term extension of Highway Trust Fund programs this month that would carry through the 2015 construction season and probably through December.
That would require lawmakers to come up with about $10 billion in new revenue to shore up the fund, which is on course to hit a cash balance squeeze in July unless Congress replenishes it. Such an extension would follow the 10-month extension Congress approved last July, to extend the trust fund through May 31.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters April 28 that with the House having just nine legislative days during May, lawmakers were more likely to extend the Highway Trust Fund through the end of 2015 than try to get a long-term bill now.
Reuters reported that McCarthy said: “The ultimate goal is to do a long-term (bill), so five to seven years. The best way to get to a long-term one is to probably do a short-term one first.”
McCarthy also said increasing federal user charges for motor fuels, often described as the gas tax, is “politically impossible,” Reuters reported.
A number of states have acted this year to hike their own fuel fees, and many transportation advocates say increasing fuel fees at the federal level is the most effective way for Congress to boost the dedicated revenue stream for the Highway Trust Fund.
Separately, House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., told an April 28 National Journal forum: “It looks like we’ll have to do a short-term patch to get to a longer-term bill.”
Shuster said he wants to see a short-term extension that carries states through their 2015 construction season. Already, some states have delayed big-ticket construction projects due to lack of certainty over whether the federal funds would be available when project bills roll in.
Asked about recent comments by other lawmakers about trying to get a long-term bill done before the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, which would mean extending the trust fund through Sept. 30, Shuster told National Journal: “That doesn’t get us through the entire construction season.”
He added that his home state of Pennsylvania, for instance, would “need another month or so before they start to slow down” on 2015 work, while states in warmer areas have longer periods to complete their projects. “I think it’s very important to get us through the construction season,” Shuster said.
He also said Congress would need to find about $10 billion for an extension lasting through December.
And U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told reporters he would support a short-term extension if it helps Congress produce a long-term authorization bill.
On April 30, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters he will unveil a short-term extension measure in about three more weeks that would probably go through December and cost about $10 billion.
Ryan said he was working with Republican and Democratic committee leaders in both the House and Senate to work out the details.
“We’ll do a patch through the year, I believe,” Transport Topics reported him saying, with “a combination of pay-fors.”
The House is scheduled to be out for its Memorial Day recess after May 21, so it would need to act on the trust fund authority by then, while the Senate’s last scheduled day before the recess is May 22.
In the wake of those comments, Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, told AASHTO Journal: “The state departments of transportation that AASHTO represents will of course be glad to see Congress acting to prevent an outright disruption of federal highway and transit programs.
“Still, our state DOTs need the certainty that only a long-term federal program can provide, and short extensions are already delaying some state construction projects,” Wright said.
“We know Congress is hearing from state officials and business leaders saying these extensions produce funding cliffs that hamper the contract bidding and finance plans for highway projects, which are crucial to economic growth back home. It is our hope this next extension congressional leaders are discussing will soon lead to a multiyear program authorization.”