Editorial: Funding Glimmer on the Horizon

We in the news business have long appreciated the value of deadlines, and now the nation may be on the cusp of reaping a substantial benefit because even members of Congress have not been able to bulletproof themselves against time — not that they haven’t tried.

Representatives and senators for years have indulged in contortions to dodge and avoid responsible public finance with respect to the crucial Highway Trust Fund. Stocking the fund properly with tax revenue was considered far too dangerous for one’s political career.

But last week, Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) joined hands and jumped fearlessly into the chasm of reality and proposed diesel fuel and gasoline tax increases desperately needed to keep solvent the trust fund, which is now only about two months away from going belly up.

The aggressively prudent addition of 12 cents a gallon for each of the two taxes would be a splendid way to restore the integrity of the main inputs to the trust fund, which have not been adjusted for inflation since 1993. The proposal also calls for indexing the rates to inflation.

American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves was at a recent Washington event with Corker and praised the senator’s demonstration of “political courage to do what has been needed but has been lacking.”

Fleet executives don’t enjoy paying taxes — and they certainly do pay a lot. They also don’t like their trucks wallowing in delays caused by summer highway construction, but the alternatives are far too grim to ponder: more bridge collapses, more equipment broken by deep potholes, more traffic congestion due to diminished transport infrastructure and less economic growth if all of those road builders get laid off.

It is especially gratifying to see that Corker and Murphy are not alone in the wilderness. A letter obtained by Transport Topics shows nine Senate Republicans writing to Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), strongly encouraging his panel to enact a short-term measure that would ensure that the Highway Trust Fund “is able to continue making payments to states without interruption.” Included among the nine was Utah’s Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican on Senate Finance.

The Corker-Murphy plan is still very far from becoming law. It would have to go through committees in both chambers and then be approved by majorities in the House and Senate before going to President Obama’s desk.

Could it be that, after exhausting every other possibility, Congress, led by Corker and Murphy, is at last falling back on the notion of doing the right thing? We certainly hope so.