Rep. Nancy Pelosi Blasts House GOP on Highway Trust Fund
As the Senate prepares to vote on a House-passed two-month transportation funding extension as early as May 21, on the other side of the Capitol, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized Republican leaders for not taking a closer look at the Highway Trust Fund.
“While they took over the House since 2011, the Ways and Means Committee has not had a single hearing on financing the Highway Trust Fund, the highway bill — not one single hearing. Again, we need bigger paychecks, better infrastructure for every hard-working family,” Pelosi told reporters May 21.
This year, several Democrats, such as Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, have been asking Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to schedule a hearing on the trust fund. Paul Balmer, a legislative aide for Blumenauer, told Transport Topics on May 12 that Ryan promised the Oregon Democrat he would hold a hearing on the trust fund.
VIDEO: Pelosi wants to know, why no hearing? (via c-span.org)
The Ways and Means panel has yet to schedule such a hearing.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has indicated the trust fund is able to operate through July before the account falls low on funding. The two-month patch the Senate is expected to clear for the president would authorize funding for the trust fund. The authorization expires May 31.
On May 19, the House reported to the Senate the short-term extension by a vote of 387-35, with Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) voting present. A spokesman for Amodei said the congressman’s vote was meant to “draw some attention to the fact that it is difficult to take seriously a vote for a 33rd straight extension, which will soon necessitate a 34th extension. Sixty-day increments do nothing to help state DOTs and local transportation agencies plan.”
After July, Congress would be required to transfer funds into the trust fund in order to keep it operable. Since 2008, Congress has approved more than $65 billion in transfers to prevent the trust fund’s collapse.
