McCarthy Pledges Action
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader and likely successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner, pledged support for long-term highway funding in an interview last week.
“We’re going to make sure we get the highway bill done,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on the “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC on Sept. 29. “We’re going to find a bill done next month that is a six-year highway bill.”
His comments came one day before the House passed a short-term funding fix, called a continuing resolution, ensuring the U.S. Department ofThis story appears in the Oct. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Transportation and the rest of the federal government will remain open for business through Dec. 11.
McCarthy, believed to have considerable support to become the next speaker, will work with other congressional leaders on a comprehensive funding bill that could include a highway measure and key reforms related to trucking policies. Nobody has indicated when the details of that comprehensive bill, known as an omnibus, will be announced.
Boehner (R-Ohio), who is resigning at the end of the month, said his caucus will hold elections for a new speaker and leadership team Oct. 8. That is when McCarthy’s ascension to be next in line for the presidency after the vice president will be formally announced.
Congressional transportation leaders already are urging McCarthy to make room for a multiyear highway measure in whatever comprehensive funding package is stitched together in the coming months.
Senate transportation committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told reporters that McCarthy should proceed quickly on securing passage of a long-term highway package, stressing that the Senate advanced a six-year highway bill in July.
McCarthy “doesn’t have the luxury” to wait several weeks to start thinking about transportation policy, said Inhofe, whose sentiments were echoed by senior members of the transportation panels.
McCarthy said increasing federal taxes on diesel and gas to pay for highway programs would not be a viable option for his party at this time. He indicated instead that House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) intends to develop a tax-reform formula directed at highway programs.
Neither Ryan, nor his tax-writing committee, have unveiled a tax package to help fund repairs and upgrades for the country’s aging infrastructure network. According to the Congressional Budget Office, $100 billion in new revenue is the requisite amount to back six years of highway and transit funding.
Like Inhofe, Senate transportation committee ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called on Republicans in the House to promptly move a highway bill so negotiations between the chambers may commence.
Although a government shutdown was averted Sept. 30, Republican leaders still have to act on another funding deadline that’s quickly coming up.
On Oct. 29, the Highway Trust Fund’s authority is set to expire. A significant portion of the country’s roadway programs are paid for by revenue brought in by the trust fund. The federal account relies on taxes on diesel and gas, which have remained unchanged since 1993.
Inhofe’s counterpart in the House, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), told reporters that changes in the House’s leadership structure — due to Boehner’s resignation — have complicated the way forward on a comprehensive highway package that would provide a boost for the trust fund.
While Shuster said he does not expect the House to finalize a long-term bill before the Oct. 29 deadline, his panel is expected to take up a multiyear highway bill this month. However, the committee’s top Democrat, Oregon’s Pete DeFazio, told reporters recently the markup on a long-term highway bill will be held once Ryan identifies sources of funding for the bill.
Shuster said support for another short-term extension is slim, and he stressed the possibility of the House advancing another such extension this month. Since 2009, Congress has passed 34 short-term funding fixes to keep highway programs operational.
