Pass a Real Highway Bill
We agree with President Obama that federal funding of infrastructure projects is a great way to help spark the national economy and get Americans working.
But while the president now is focusing his energies on his plan to create a short-term federal infrastructure bank to funnel cash into projects, we have another, albeit old-fashioned, alternative: that Congress, with the president’s encouragement, pass a large, multiyear transportation funding program.
As American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves put it last week: “If the president wants to foster job creation through infrastructure spending, he should demand Congress pass a well-funded, multiyear bill with a focus on core highway programs that address critical regional and national transportation needs.”
It all seems pretty simple to us.
Instead of worrying about all the machinations — political, financial and legislative — necessary in creating a new process, why not simply put that labor into getting the new highway spending bill through the thicket of Capitol Hill?
Of course, things have been so dysfunctional in Washington lately that we’re certainly willing to applaud the House and Senate for last week passing a new short-term extension of the existing program until March 31. The extension now goes to Obama for his signature.
For as less-than-ideal a short-term extension may be, letting the highway bill lapse would be a far worse problem and would mean the expiration of the federal fuel tax program, which feeds the Highway Trust Fund — the primary piggy bank for infrastructure projects.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), the ranking Democrat, both agree that the ultimate goal is a long-term highway bill, although they don’t agree on how much funding should be provided in a new bill.
The legislation Congress passed would maintain funding at the current $41 billion level, although House Republicans have threatened to cut almost a third of that total in a permanent bill.
As we’ve said many times before, repairing and expanding the nation’s freight infrastructure is crucial to the economic well-being of the United States. Expanding the commitment to infrastructure also can help create jobs here, and get the economy moving again.
