House Schedules Vote On Trust Fund Rescue
House GOP leaders scheduled a floor vote July 31 on their original $11 billion plan to shore up a cash-strapped federal highway account through May, in order to prevent the Department of Transportation from having to delay payouts to states Aug. 1.
Late July 30, House Republican managers agreed to take out amendments to the bill that senators had adopted the previous day. Those amendments included scaling back the bill’s reliance on pension smoothing and authorized funding through December.
Senior Senate Democrats have criticized the pension-smoothing accounting technique, which allows companies to lower legally required payments into their employee retirement programs temporarily, boosting a company’s taxable income.
UPDATE, 2:40 p.m. EDT: House passes its version of fix
House leaders have indicated they prefer using pension smoothing as a way to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through next spring, as well as keeping the May 2015 sunset provision in the bill.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), told reporters July 30 that the “only responsible course is for the Senate to pass the original House-passed highway bill, which we will soon send back to them.”
The House vote is scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT, leaving opponents of the legislation just a few hours to change the bill before both chambers recess for the August break. Many transportation observers say they expect the House to pass the legislation and the Senate to clear it for the president later in the evening.
The trust fund's construction account is projected to run out of money around late August or early September, according to DOT’s projections. Without an approval of funds from Congress, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the agency will cut back reimbursements to states Aug. 1 for active transportation projects. Those large-scale projects involve the trucking industry and often depend on local contractors.
