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WASHINGTON - To ensure that highway and transportation projects across the nation do not come to a halt due to a lack of funds, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an $8 billion budget relief package Wednesday.
"Public safety and economic growth depend on our transportation infrastructure, but the Highway Trust Fund is going broke. If we don't restore funds, the states will lose money they have been promised for projects they have planned," said Rep. Tom Petri, former Chairman of the Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee, and currently a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Federal highway spending is funded through the federal gasoline tax, which was designed as a form of user fee. "But that's getting obsolete," Petri said. "With the jump in gas prices, people are driving less, vehicles are becoming more efficient, and people are switching to alternative fuels."
New funding mechanisms will be necessary in the long run, he said, but in the short term, the looming shortfall has grown to between $5 billion and $6 billion. According to the Association of American Highway and Transportation Officials, if this funding issue is not fixed, up to $14 billion in transportation spending could be in jeopardy - which for Wisconsin would be a $196 million loss, impacting 6,800 jobs.
"Infrastructure is already deteriorating dangerously, and a funding shortfall of that size would eliminate 380,000 construction jobs nationwide," Petri said. "Those jobs support families and area businesses, so this couldn't come at a worse time."
In 1998, when the Highway Trust Fund balance was high, Congress transferred a little over $8 billion out of the Trust Fund to the General Fund. Passed in the House July 23 by a vote of 387 to 37, the Highway Trust Fund Restoration Act (H.R. 6532) would restore $8 billion back to the Trust FundRan.
The Senate has not yet acted on the issue, but several approaches are being pursued.
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