House Adopts Ryan Budget Resolution

The House by a narrow vote adopted a budget proposal April 10 that calls for offsetting transfers from the general federal fund to a major highway account with savings elsewhere in the budget.

Democrats did not vote for the resolution sponsored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in the 219-205 vote. A dozen Republicans voted against it.

Ryan’s 10-year-plan advances to the Senate, where Democrats in control of the upper chamber say they will not consider it.

Under the budget, transportation policy writers would have to “address the systemic factors that have been driving” the bankruptcy of the federal Highway Trust Fund, which the Congressional Budget Office projects will be insolvent fiscal year 2015.

The fund is the main source of federal aid for road programs and mass transit agencies at the states, but revenue from the tax on each gallon of fuel no longer covers the fund’s obligations. The national fuel tax was last increased in 1993.

Congress has relied on general revenue funds to keep the trust fund operable The 2012 transportation law, MAP-21, includes $21 billion for the fund, but MAP-21 expires in September, and several key Republicans say they will adhere to Ryan’s proposals as they reauthorize the transportation law in a few months.

Ryan’s blueprint also proposes a pilot program to allow states to opt out of the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax and forgo federal allocations. It would end Amtrak operating subsidies, reduce the Transportation Security Agency’s funding and phase out subsidies under the Essential Air Service program.