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Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

This story appears in the April 13 print edition of Transport Topics.

Congressional lawmakers returning to Capitol Hill this week have about six weeks to determine how to keep transportation dollars flowing before the funding authority for highway programs expires May 31.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure panel, indicated he’ll soon decide whether to back a short-term bill in lieu of a multiyear highway policy measure. During the Easter recess, Shuster toured parts of his home state to hear directly from residents.

“The more voices and perspectives we can hear, the more likely we are to come up with the best solutions,” he said.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, is expected to back a short-term measure. He recently told reporters that a highway proposal must be incorporated into a broader tax-reform package — an overhaul unlikely to happen by May. Ryan also said he would not support raising fuel taxes to supplement states with money for infrastructure projects.

Proponents of a short-term extension say the move would give lawmakers a few extra months to craft and advance a multiyear highway policy bill through the GOP-led chambers.

Ryan has jurisdiction over the Highway Trust Fund, which relies on fuel taxes to back infrastructure projects nationwide. Ryan and most of his Republican colleagues have ruled out raising federal fuel taxes to boost the dwindling trust fund. Trucking industry leaders and most transportation groups support raising fuel taxes to ensure long-term funding for highway projects.

Meanwhile, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats, who call themselves the “Blue Dogs,” urged Ryan last month to hold a hearing on the Highway Trust Fund.

“We invite you to meet with our members to discuss common-sense solutions for moving our country forward,” 15 members of the group wrote to Ryan and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan, on March 26. “There is considerable bipartisan enthusiasm for passing a multiyear transportation bill this Congress, but passing any legislation is dependent upon a long-term funding solution.”

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, an advocate for a long-term highway plan, reminded Ryan of the looming highway funding deadline in an editorial published this month in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the largest newspaper in his home state.

“Congress faces a choice in the coming weeks: commit to fixing our roads or settle for more of the same inaction and half-measures that has ravaged Washington now for years,” AEM President Dennis Slater wrote. “Ryan is in the position to decide whether, in the next few weeks, Congress will step up and tackle one of the biggest long-term fiscal challenges facing our nation, fixing the Highway Trust Fund.”

Other groups also have ramped up their calls for a long-term bill. The American Public Transportation Association galvanized hundreds of transit agencies, stakeholders and businesses last week for “Stand Up for Transportation Day”— a rally aimed at congressional leaders.

Another sign of possible action on a short-term measure is that Ryan and his Senate counterpart, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, oppose the Obama administration’s transportation proposal. The White House’s Grow America Act calls for a mandatory 14% tax on accumulated overseas earnings of U.S. companies to keep highway programs funded for six years.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told reporters during the recess he suspects there will be a short-term measure unveiled in the coming weeks. Foxx also clarified that the May funding deadline won’t mean high-way spending would stop immediately.

“There would still be funding available through probably late July, early August,” Foxx said.