 |
|
|
Wall Street Journal Bush Ends Opposition to Highway-Fund Boost September 6, 2008 By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
The Bush administration reversed earlier opposition to a plan backed by congressional Democrats to provide $8 billion in emergency funding to pay for transportation projects. The move comes as unemployment is surging and gas-tax revenues for road projects are falling short of projections. The administration has for months resisted seeking general-fund money to plug a shortfall in federal gas-tax collections that has gotten worse as Americans have responded to high gas prices by driving less. The driving decline means less tax revenue is flowing into the federal Highway Trust Fund, the primary mechanism used to finance highway and mass-transit projects. Gas-tax money is running short just as demands to fix aging highways, railways and other transportation networks are soaring.
Congress rejected the White House's preferred solution: shifting money into the highway account from a better-funded mass-transit account.
Spurred by lobbyists for road builders and other business groups, many in Congress instead preferred the idea of transferring $8 billion into the highway account from the government's general fund. The House has already passed such a bill. Partisan quarrels have stalled action in the Senate.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that for the fiscal year beginning in October, outlays are forecast to exceed revenues by roughly $8 billion. Thus, states will have to curtail spending if Congress doesn't come up with more funding soon.
"It will delay or halt needed transportation projects, and leave contractors and suppliers with IOUs instead of cash to pay their workers," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials.
Democrats lashed back at the administration, suggesting the issue will remain tense as the funding debate continues.
"The Highway Trust Fund is now bankrupt," said Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), who heads a key transportation subcommittee. "It's too bad that it has taken an emergency to force the administration to pull its head out of the sand and appreciate how serious this problem is." |
|
AMF on the BBC
 |
