CBO Warns House Panel on Highway Trust Fund
WASHINGTON — A congressional subcommittee received a grim picture Tuesday of what lies ahead for the Highway Trust Fund if Congress and the White House do not find a way to pay for transportation before the fund is declared insolvent in 2015.
That year, there will be about $50 billion in outlays — if spending levels are the same as 2013 — but only $40 billion in receipts, Kim Cawley of the Congressional Budget Office said at a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highways subcommittee.
“That means at some point in 2015, the Department of Transportation will be unable to reimburse states for all of the federal highway and mass transit expenses they have already incurred,” Cawley told lawmakers.
How states will respond is unknown, Cawley said, adding that they might drop or slow down maintenance or new projects or accelerate their spending in an attempt to get their share of highway money before the trust fund runs out.
“It’s clear that without some change in policy there won’t be enough money to go around,” Cawley said.
Committee members agreed that the trust fund is running out of money as Americans increasingly drive more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
“By the end of 2014, a total of $54 billion will have been transferred from the General Fund into the Highway Trust Fund to maintain its solvency,” said Subcommittee Chairman Tom Petri (R-Wis.).
For additional coverage, see the July 29 print edition of Transport Topics.
