212 House Members Call for Fix to Highway Trust Fund
In less than two weeks, three dozen House lawmakers have signed a letter urging tax policy authorizers to guarantee the sustainability of the Highway Trust Fund, bringing the total of signatories to 212, according to the office of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.).
The letter by Graves and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), chairman and ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, respectively, stresses to the leadership of the Ways and Means Committee the need to address the trust fund’s looming shortfall in three years.
The tax panel is likely to take up tax policy reform legislation in a few weeks.
“A long-term solution to the [Highway Trust Fund] structural revenue deficit would promote increased transportation infrastructure investment and meaningful economic growth in every state,” Graves and Holmes Norton wrote.
The infrastructure construction sector led through the Transportation Construction Coalition has pressed House lawmakers to endorse the letter. A viable trust fund helps states to plan long-term for big-ticket projects.
“We need to turn up the heat on Congress and the administration,” David Zachry, chairman of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, said in a statement earlier in May.
The U.S. Department of Transportation uses the trust fund to help states pay for infrastructure projects. The account is projected to run low on funds in about three years.
