Senate Agrees on $26.8 Billion Highway Trust Fund Rescue
The Senate took a major step forward last night in its battle with the House over transportation funding, releasing a plan to give $26.8 billion to the dwindling highway trust fund and -- perhaps most importantly, for the long term -- to restore the fund's ability to keep the interest it earns.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) (Photo: Baucus '08)The Senate plan, forged by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), was endorsed by two of the chamber's more progressive transportation-minded members, Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).
The legislation would send $22 billion to the highway trust fund, slightly more than needed to keep it solvent until the Obama administration's proposed stopgap transportation law expires in 2011.
The nation's mass transit account, which is not facing the same imminent insolvency as highway programs, nonetheless would receive $4.8 billion under Baucus' bill.
In a statement released last night, Menendez touted that investment in mass transit as a good omen:
This robust investment in masstransit amounts to an investment in the foundation for 21st Centuryeconomic security. It is not only a sector that creates jobs, but it helpslower energy costs, cleans the air we breathe and saves commuters time andmoney. It is tremendously important to ensure that when we replenish thetransportation trust funds, transit gets its historical share, and thislegislation accomplishes that. This positions us to make significantinvestments in transit projects in the forthcoming transportationreauthorization bill.
Baucus' bill is likely to clear the Senate by the end of the month, but the House remains in a holding pattern. Transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is still marshaling his colleagues in favor of a new six-year transport bill before September 30, and while he may be open to agreement on a fix to keep the trust fund flush until then, a long-term rescue will be difficult to sell.
Interestingly, however, the Senate's decision to restore interest-accruing powers to the trust fund represents a victory of sorts for Oberstar. The House transport chairman contended in early June that rescuing the highway program would be a matter of reversing the 1998 deal that blocked the trust fund from keeping the interest it earns.
Baucus' bill also would restore the money that was taken from the trust fund between 1989 and 2004 to pay for emergency spending bills, a move that Oberstar might ordinarily endorse.
But the clash over passing new transportation legislation this year has changed the political calculus for Democrats, increasing the chances that the issue won't be resolved until after Labor Day.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
Pols Detail ‘Road Map’ For Safe Streets in Western Queens
A group of western Queens lawmakers released a plan for street safety projects they want to see before 2030.
Tuesday’s Headlines: Restorative (Traffic) Justice Edition
Two stories highlighted a restorative justice program that allows traffic crash victims and perpetrators the chance to meet face-to-face. Plus more news.
Top NJ Lawmaker Proposes Major Reforms to Fight Temporary License Plate Fraud
The new legislation follows a seven-month Streetsblog investigation that found widespread fraud involving temp tags, with car dealers abusing weak state regulations and selling paper plates illegally to drivers using them to evade accountability on the road.
Fed Panel Wants to Confront the Role of Aggressive Auto Advertising in U.S. Road Deaths
A horrific car crash has federal safety officials calling for systematic responses to traffic violence — including the aggressive car ads that may inspire motorists to hit the gas.
A ‘Giving Tuesday’ Streetsblog Primer
Before we ask for your donation, let us prove to you that we're worthy of it!
