Shuster: States Should ReapBenefits of Extra Gas Tax Money
California would lead all comers with an extra $121 million in highways funds starting Oct. 1, according to an analysis by Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa. Illinois would get $45 million more, while the pothole-laden District of Columbia would bring up the rear with an additional $5 million.
West Virginia would gain an additional $15 million.
Shuster opposes a provision in the proposed $45.5 billion Transportation Department budget that would divert about half the unexpected almost $1.5 billion in gas tax money to nonhighway transportation programs.
American drivers generated the funds by buying cheap gas and fuel-guzzling sports-utility vehicles.
Shuster says that under terms of last year's $203 billion national highway bill, any extra money generated by the gas tax should be returned to the states. His breakdown shows the states'
evised shares based on the distribution formula created in the bill.
"I am concerned by the president's attempt to rewrite the law and redistribute these funds," Shuster said in a statement released along with his state-by-state breakdown.
Adding to the chorus was Sen. John Chafee, (R-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"The president's budget proposal would upset the delicate balance finally achieved in those (highway) negotiations," Chafee wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.
In announcing the proposal on Monday, Slater conceded the administration was reworking the highway bill funding formula. He said diversions were justified because states still were going to get more highway money, and the rest would go to "programs that we think are strategic and keeping with the overall needs identified by the administration."
They include $730 million for road, bridge and clean-air programs, $291 million for mass transit, $250 million for research and $125 million for automotive safety programs.
The administration also wants to spend $35 million for rail improvements and $25 million for transportation preservation.
States are already scheduled to receive significant road and bridge money under the highway bill. There are already $25 billion worth of highway projects in the pipeline, and even without the extra gas money, California would still get close to $2.5 billion in road funds on Oct. 1.
Illinois' take would be $905 million, while the District of Columbia would get $106 million even without any of the extra gas tax money.
Shuster's spokesman, Scott Brenner, said: "We'll listen to their proposals, but we have no plans to reopen the legislation right now. The bill's not even a year old."
