Congressional Leaders Vow Action on Infrastructure
This story appears in the May 22 print edition of Transport Topics.
WASHINGTON — Legislation that would ensure long-term funding for infrastructure projects nationwide will make its way through the transportation committees in the House and Senate, the chairmen of those panels announced last week.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) indicated his committee definitely would consider a bill backed by the White House, as early as this fall. The measure would seek to restore funding for big-scale projects, such as bridges, freight corridors, transit and pipelines.
Shuster’s Senate counterpart, Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), emphasized that his panel would craft its version of an infrastructure funding plan as it awaits legislative guidance from the White House. The chairman said he met with every Democrat on the committee to examine the issue.
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Along with ranking member Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), he’s coming up with a statement of general principles and a path forward on a long-term bill.
“We’re going to continue to work on a bill. We’re working on a bipartisan basis right now,” Barrasso told the American Road and Transportation Builders Association on May 17 as part of Infrastructure Week. “We’re going to work with the White House. But we’re not going to wait. We are expecting a timeline. We’ve heard different timelines.”
Barrasso would not endorse increasing fuel taxes as a way to fund a long-term infrastructure funding bill. He was among the few transportation leaders to not suggest the fuel-tax increase was an option in a long-term bill.
At a committee hearing May 17, Carper called on colleagues and the administration to support a sustainable funding fix for transportation projects.
“In just over three years, we will face an insolvency crisis for the Highway Trust Fund. We face this crisis in large part because we haven’t raised the gas and diesel taxes in 24 years or adjusted them for inflation,” Carper said. “Revenues have stayed flat, while the construction costs to build roads and bridges keep increasing.”
Shuster, who has backed away from talks of raising the diesel and gas tax, stopped short of rejecting an increase. The Pennsylvania Republican told Transport Topics on May 17 he would consi- der every funding option for the country’s infrastructure network.
“I agree with the president. I agree with Sen. [James] Inhofe. Everything needs to be on the table, but we [have] got to figure out how to fund this,” Shuster said. “I stand on: Everything needs to be on the table. And if there’s a deal to be made, I’m willing to look at anything.”
A day earlier, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, also noted the “everything is on the table” sentiment in a speech at the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors on Capitol Hill.
“Fuel tax, [vehicle miles traveled], [are] on the table. Tolling, I’m not a big fan of tolling … [but it] is on the table,” Graves said. “We want to make sure that the trust fund, the transportation trust fund is viable, moving forward.”
More than 100 House members have signed Graves’ joint letter with his subcommittee’s ranking member, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), which urges the tax policy committee to ensure the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund this year, as Congress turns its attention to reforming tax policy.
The trust fund is projected to be unable to meet its obligations by the time the five-year FAST Act highway law expires in 2020. That law was the first long-term infrastructure and transportation measure Congress passed in more than 10 years.
Inhofe (R-Okla.), former chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, also would not rule out raising taxes on fuel.
“There’s a place in there for all of the above,” Inhofe told reporters May 16. “There are a lot of approaches, innovative approaches … everything is on the table.”
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao echoed Inhofe’s sentiment, telling TT that “everything’s on the table” to fund a legislative infrastructure package in the fall. President Donald Trump pledged to deliver a $1 trillion, 10-year plan that would invest in infrastructure projects.
The freight industry has been calling on Congress and the president to approve an increase in fuel taxes to help upgrade roads and bridges that in some cases date to the Eisenhower era.
The federal 24.4 cents-per-gallon diesel tax and 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax have not been raised since 1993.
Republican leaders have acknowledged the Department of Justice investigation of the Trump administration is a distraction that could hinder the GOP agenda on Capitol Hill. The Senate is tackling health care reform, and the chambers are taking up an overhaul of the tax code before addressing infrastructure concerns.
