Mike Lee (R-Utah) also criticized the Highway Trust Fund’s insolvency, and introduced a long-shot substitute amendment that would have transferred unused Covid money to the trust fund, and terminated the fund’s mass transit account entirely. Other amendments on funding were introduced, but didn’t make it into the bill. “It will help Congress ensure that all vehicles pay their fair share,” he said. ![]() Tom Carper (D-Del.), who led the bill’s floor debate for Democrats, said the study would evaluate the use and damage that different vehicles cause to roads, and compare that to what those users pay to the trust. Kelly said the information from the study would help make decisions to address the Highway Trust Fund’s shortfalls during its next reauthorization cycle, expected in 2026. Lummis wants the study to tell Congress who is using roadways so that all users, including electric vehicles, fairly contribute to the fund, according to a spokesperson. “That makes it a trust fund that we cannot actually trust.” “We have repeatedly bailed out the Highway Trust Fund,” Lummis said. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), had broad bipartisan support with a 95-3 vote. One addition to the bill would require the secretary of the Department of Transportation to study the changes and costs of highway use by different vehicles-the first time a major highway cost allocation study has been done since 1997. Lawmakers adopted amendments to the infrastructure bill that show they want surface transportation programs to be paid for, but haven’t been able to agree on how. “As a result, states would face challenges in planning for transportation projects because of uncertainty about the amount or timing of payments from the Treasury.” “If the trust fund’s balances were to be exhausted, the federal government would not be able to make payments to states on a timely basis,” Joseph Kile, CBO’s director of microeconomic analysis, said at a Senate committee hearing in April. The CBO projected in February that both the highway and transit account balances of the Highway Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2022. ![]() Senate Passes Boost for Infrastructure in Victory for Biden Fund That ‘Can’t Trust’ The infrastructure bill overall would add $256 billion to the federal budget deficit over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office said last week. With the gap set to grow ever-larger each year, the fund requires ever-greater infusions of federal funding, exacerbating larger problems with the U.S. Since about 2008, Congress began spending more out of the trust fund than was going into it. “The current state of the Highway Trust Fund is unsustainable and unless something changes we’re going to be in dire straits-even more dire in just a few years.” John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on the Senate floor last week. “I believe there so far have been some missed opportunities, one being reform to the Highway Trust Fund itself,” Sen. Instead, it creates pilot programs and studies to determine future options. 3684) does nothing to change the rate of the gasoline tax-the main source of federal money for highways and transit-which hasn’t increased since 1993. An “end road work” sign is displayed on the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles, Calif., in 2011.īut the legislation ( H.R.
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