Menu
Posted April 14, 2014

Growing Threat of Highway Trust Fund Bankruptcy

The “threat is growing” of a bankruptcy in the federal DOT’s Highway Trust Fund, the fund normally used to pay for road and transit projects.


Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Senate Democrat's top budget writer, took the Senate floor last week to warn lawmakers of the consequences of allowing to the fund to run out of money this year. The fund is normally used to pay for "projects that create jobs and keep our economy moving," she said, but could reach a "critically low level" as soon as July. “If this isn’t resolved, construction projects to improve our roads and bridges could shut down and leave workers without a paycheck.”

The Highway Trust Fund’s coffers are normally filled by revenue collected through the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax. The gas tax has not been increased since 1993, however, and infrastructure expenses have outpaced receipts from the fuel levy by as much as $20 billion per year recently.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that the trust fund will go bankrupt in the fall without additional congressional action.

The budget office and infrastructure advocates have said lawmakers will have to approve an additional $100 billion above to provide enough money to fund a six-year transportation bill, in addition to the $34 billion brought in annually by the gas tax.

Murray said states were already being impacted by the transportation funding uncertainty, citing projects in Arkansas and Colorado, but noting that these “aren’t isolated cases."

Murray voiced support for proposals from President Obama and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to supplement the gas tax revenue with more than $125 billion from closing corporate tax loopholes.

Read the article on "The Hill" here.



SPONSORED ADS