DOT Sends Bill to Congress

This story appears in the May 5 print edition of Transport Topics.

The four-year, $302 billion highway bill Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sent Congress on April 29 proposes reforms to certain corporate taxes as a way to bolster a dwindling federal highway account that helps states fund large-scale infrastructure projects.

While the bill is unlikely to move through Congress, Foxx urged lawmakers to take up the proposal before the federal Highway Trust Fund account runs out of money in August, noting that a few states have canceled or delayed infrastructure projects “because of the uncertainty at the federal level.”

DOT estimates the trust fund will be insolvent later this summer mainly because it relies on fuel taxes that have not been raised for more than two decades. Improvements in fuel efficiency and altered driving habits have limited the revenue generated for the fund.

“The proposal comes at the most crucial moment for transportation in the last several years,” Foxx said. “The only way we’re going to fix this is if everyone puts their ideas on the table and has an honest discussion about where we can find common ground.”

The Obama administration’s bill, called the “Grow America Act,” would update programs in the 2012 MAP-21 law that expires in September. The new proposal is similar to the president’s fiscal 2015 budget submission in which he called for reforming corporate taxes to generate some $150 billion in revenue.

Top House Republicans have indicated they will not adopt such a corporate tax overhaul this year. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he would review the bill but was confident he “won’t agree with all the details.”

In the Senate, Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, acknowledged that “finding ways to pay for this bill will not be easy.”

Shuster’s Senate counterpart, California Democrat Barbara Boxer, did not comment as of press time.

On May 7, Foxx is scheduled to appear before Rockefeller’s committee to take questions from senators.

With the November midterm elections consuming much of Congress’ attention, several congressional aides and top transportation experts interviewed by Transport Topics said they expect lawmakers to hold off on advancing long-term transportation bills and approve instead a short-term extension of MAP-21 before leaving for the August recess.

The administration’s proposal includes provisions long-discussed in the transportation community.

The proposal would drop current restrictions on tolling on interstate highways, a provision that Foxx said “states have to make their own decisions about.” Federal law prohibits tolls on existing interstates, and while tolling has its supporters, it’s strongly opposed by American Trucking Associations.

“We have real questions about the viability of the administration’s plan to use one-time proceeds from an unspecified — and unlikely to pass — corporate tax reform idea, along with inefficient highway tolling or private capital financing,” said ATA President Bill Graves.

The bill also would authorize the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to set standards for driver compensation. For the many drivers who are paid by the mile, trucking companies would have to pay drivers at least minimum wage when they are in a working-but-not-driving duty cycle.

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said the provision is designed to “ensure fair pay for long-distance bus and truck drivers who are often paid by the miles they travel, not their total time on duty, and face economic pressure to jeopardize safety by driving beyond the mandatory limits.”

Under the bill, FMCSA would receive $288 million from the trust fund’s highway account for fiscal 2015. The bill also would authorize $315 million for FMCSA’s administrative expenses.

Additionally, the bill would change the Highway Trust Fund’s name to the Transportation Trust Fund and include $19 billion for rail programs in a separate account. It would authorize $25 billion for the Transportation Trust Fund’s highway account in 2015, and it would set aside $10 billion to improve freight transportation. It also would authorize $1.25 billion annually for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program, or TIGER grants, and it would eliminate the practice of self-insurance among large motor carriers Other provisions include expediting the permitting of infrastructure projects, as well as setting guidelines for public-private partnerships, broadband infrastructure, storm-water systems and disaster response.

Several interest groups welcomed the plan, and others expressed concerns.

Michael Green, a spokesman for AAA, said the bill “delivers on the core responsibility of the federal government, which is to facilitate interstate commerce, enhance personal mobility, make our roads safer and keep America globally competitive.”

Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said his group will continue to press Congress to raise federal gasoline and diesel taxes as a way to pay for infrastructure projects.