Transportation funding

The United States is running a deficit in road infrastructure investment because it has allowed the federal fund that provides financing for state and local projects, such as bridges and highways nationwide, to run dry.

If Congress does not act quickly to bolster the fund, there will no longer be any money for transportation and transit projects, representing a potential loss of up to 700,000 jobs.

Traffic congestion is growing worse, as arestructural problems that need to be shored up. As needs have increased, the Highway Trust Fund has been withering away. The fund’s money comes from an 18.4 cent per gallon gas tax established in 1993. Since that time, these revenues have been falling due to fuel-saving new technologies.

Much more has been spent thanhas been raised, and the fund is estimated to run out of money this August.

The most reasonable solution, within the system, is to index the tax by increasing it to 33 cents per gallon, but no one in Washington wants this solution for the long term.

To that end, President Obama proposed closing tax loopholes in order to finance the fund for four years.

House Republicans, however—always looking to kill one bird with two stones—proposed closing post offices on Saturdays and using that money for the fund. That way, they don’t have to touch taxes and at the same time get the postal reform they have been yearning for.

To date there is no agreement between the White House and Congress. Moreover, the House of Representatives has done nothing in this regard, as it appears more interested in attacking the president with a view to the November elections than in governing.

It is clear that no one has presented a long-term proposal that provides certainty that there will be funds to cover contracts for years to come. That is one problem. But intoday’s Washington, solid solutions seem too much to ask; it would be enough for them not to let the Highway Trust Fund run out of money.