Senators Unveil 6-Year Transportation Bill

Inhofe chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee have unveiled a new six-year surface transportation reauthorization costing more than a quarter-trillion dollars, but it’s still unclear how the Senate would pay for it.

The bill would place a new priority on funding streams for off-system bridges as well as a new grant program for projects of strategic and national significance. According to summary materials obtained by CQ Roll Call, it would provide for increased focus on backlogs related to the Interstate Highway System and the National Highway System.

The measure also would set up a formula-based program for funding for freight corridors, in an effort to fund projects that improve the movement of goods.

“This bipartisan bill … contains the hallmark accomplishment of a new freight program to prioritize federal spending on the facilities that will most directly benefit our economy, in addition to prioritizing federal dollars towards bridge safety and the interstate system,” said Chairman James M. Inhofe, R-Okla.

Overall, the measure, which this year has been dubbed the DRIVE Act, would provide for a 3-percent annual growth average over the years from the funding levels in the MAP-21 bill. That equates to roughly $260-270 billion over the six years.

But as is customary, those are not total figures because the bill does not address funding issues within the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee or other provisions belonging to the Commerce and Banking panels. None of those panels have released legislation, and getting the funding has been the sticking point; it’s always easier to dole out the money than decide who you are going to squeeze to get it.

That was a point highlighted in the statement released of a news conference to unveil the bill by the EPW panel’s ranking Democrat, Barbara Boxer of California.

“The clock is ticking, and action in the EPW is a major first step — the other committees also need to act,” Boxer said.

The EPW portion of the bill is scheduled to be marked up Wednesday.

Via: Roll Call

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Let America Fix the Highways Washington Broke

Congress has a particularly bad habit of bailing out federal programs without addressing the underlying problems that caused failure in the first place. This round, we’re punting the ball on the Highway Trust Fund.

However, this time is different. We have a common-sense solution to reform our nation’s transportation policy, modernize America’s outdated transportation infrastructure system, and return decision making power to the states.

The Transportation Empowerment Act will update federal transportation policy with the same proven principles—diversity, customization and open-sourcing—that are driving innovation across our economy today.

Today, when we think of federal transportation policy, we think of the triumph of the Interstate Highway System. It was an enormous national project that began in the 1950s under President Eisenhower and reflected post-war America’s confident optimism. We had become a combustion-engine economy and needed a transportation network to connect our nation. So we built one.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, you can drive from Miami to Salt Lake, and from San Diego to Boston, only having to stop for gas. And a job well done is still a job, well, done.

In recent decades, America’s transportation needs have changed, but—as is too common in Washington today—our transportation policies have not kept pace. The highway program, and those who used it, built highways, via a per-gallon gasoline tax paid at the pump.

Today, drivers still pay the tax, but politicians redirect portions of the highway fund for bike lanes and walking paths and public transit systems in certain cities. Meanwhile, partisan giveaways to special interests and bureaucratic skimming artificially inflate the cost of new infrastructure projects by as much as 20 percent.

The Transportation Empowerment Act will reduce the federal gas tax from 18.3 cents a gallon to 3.7 cents a gallon.

The status quo isn’t working; that’s why Congress hasn’t truly reauthorized the highway program in years. We just keep coming up with patches and bailouts.

Today, our most pressing transportation needs are local, not national. States and local governments are not only up to the job of maintaining existing highways—they’re already responsible for 75 percent of it. They are, in fact, far better positioned to lead in the next phase of infrastructure innovation. That is what our bill will finally allow them to do.

The Transportation Empowerment Act will transfer much of the responsibility for transportation projects to the individual states, allowing them to decide how to best spend their transportation dollars, and ultimately cutting out the Washington middle-man.

Via: Daily Signal

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