Editorial: Congress Back in Session

Congress is back in session this week, and what to make of that? Cynicism comes easily, such as the old political phrase: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

More constructively, though, whether senators and representatives have been meeting with constituents at home, fundraising or both, there is critical work to be done under the Capitol’s dome, so it’s time to come back.

The major pillars of the federal government — Congress, the administration and the courts — have been grinding away at each other in a particularly frustrating way. Some of this goes back to the 1790s because the government was never designed for efficient action.

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Since about 2007, though, the indifference to accomplishment seems to be uncommonly high. Like many of our fellow citizens, we’d like to see Washington’s elected officeholders divert a little effort from howling at each other and spend their time on problem-solving instead.

Journalists who spend their time chatting on the phone and typing can say this easily, but lawmakers will point out that real life is far more difficult.

We’ll readily admit that but still say it’s once more unto the breach. Yes, this means a multiyear surface transportation act.

Sens. Jim Inhofe and Barbara Boxer and Reps. Bill Shuster and Peter DeFazio, to their credit, are leading a bipartisan group in both chambers whose members truly want to pass a transportation act.

The Obama administration’s Transportation Department also has officials who want this to come to pass. There is a spending plan out there to be had.

The problem comes on the funding side and with top congressional leadership and the White House’s political people. There is substantial disagreement in this second group, and that is why there have been 34 patches for transportation funding since 2009.

Congress decided decades ago that user fees in the form of fuel taxes were the best way to fund a modern transportation network. We see no argument that should change that fundamental arrangement, although tweaks that recognize modernity such as new fuels beyond diesel and gasoline make sense.

Congress and the administration should change tax rates — meaning raise them — so that fuel taxes do what they’re supposed to do, fund a transportation network that allows commerce to flourish.

It’s not entirely this simple, but it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it has been.