Stakeholders Urge Tax Committee to Act on Highway Trust Fund Fix

Tax-writing policymakers in Congress should ensure that any reform package they consider incorporates a permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund, the Transportation Construction Coalition said July 7.

“Failure to address the [Highway Trust Fund’s] revenue shortfall as part of a comprehensive measure would increase the likelihood of Congress again shifting funds from elsewhere in the budget — at the expense of other economic sectors — to support another in a long string of one-time trust fund infusions,” the coalition wrote Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in a letter obtained by Transport Topics.

“A permanent, growth-supporting revenue solution for the Highway Trust Fund would achieve many of the economic and fiscal objectives of both parties,” the coalition added.

The coalition, made up of 31 national transportation associations and construction trade union members, said relying on nontransportation accounts to back highway projects does not provide it with long-term funding certainty.

For the FAST Act highway law of 2015, Congress relied on a series of nontransportation financial streams, such as funds from the Federal Reserve Bank and sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to finance big-ticket infrastructure projects. That setup offered a short-term lift for the trust fund.

The Ways and Means panel has jurisdiction over the trust fund, which operates through revenue from taxes on gas and diesel fuel. The FAST Act transferred $70 billion into the trust fund, but funding is projected to be liquidated in fiscal 2020. Prior to the FAST Act, Congress had approved 36 short-term funding extensions since 2009 to keep the trust fund solvent.