Editorial: A Disappointing Stopgap

So it has come to pass that the House of Representatives has approved by a wide margin a 10-month, $11 billion stopgap fix for the Highway Trust Fund just weeks before it would become insolvent.

The Senate is still pondering what to do, but President Obama said he would sign such a law, not because it is a good bill, but because it’s better than the collapse of HTF and the massive layoffs for road builders that would follow. It looks, for now, like the nation will avoid catastrophe, but this is an act of desperation, not a sensible accommodating of differences.

On Capitol Hill last week, one person told us that temporary patches for transportation programs are as common as flowers in spring, so don’t get excited about yet one more. Others quoted the German statesman, who said most people like sausages and legislation, but you don’t want to see either commodity getting made.

There also was serious talk from legislators of both parties and Department of Transportation officials who clearly understand the importance of a new long-term surface transportation plan built atop a foundation of durable funding. Many people in the capital know what freight transportation means to the nation.

We’ve recently heard from Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell and Tom Carper, and House Republicans Bill Shuster and John Duncan Jr., and their concern about the issue is far more than perfunctory.

The president had similar comments in Wilmington, Delaware, when he spoke near an important bridge that has been placed out of service.

The biggest challenge to a multiyear highway bill comes after the transportation committees. Leaders in both parties and both congressional chambers and in the top reaches of the administration remain unable to reach any agreement on the overall federal budget.

Transportation is ultimately a part of the whole budget, and if that can’t move, neither can a real transportation plan, no matter how desperately needed.

Democrats won’t consider changes to social entitlements — the lion’s share of spending — and Republicans won’t budge on taxes.

We’re glad that transportation collapse most likely will be avoided, for now, and that people of good faith are really working on the issue.

But the bigger picture can leave one queasy, with transportation held hostage to an unyielding budget brawl.