U.S. DOT unveils long-term transportation bill

The Obama administration sent Congress an updated version of last year’s GROW America bill to reauthorize surface transportation programs and infrastructure investment.    The Obama administration on Monday sent Congress an updated version of last year’s GROW America bill to reauthorize surface transportation programs and infrastructure investment. The primary difference is an increase in the size and scope of the plan from four years and $300 million to six years and $478 million.
   If the news sounds familiar, it’s because the White House already outlined the proposal when it released its fiscal year 2016 budget on Feb. 2. The budget identified how the administration would pay for various expenditures in the plan and offered general guidelines, but Monday’s document provides much more detail on actual transportation policy.
   The new plan increases the amount of funding for a first-time fund set aside for regional freight transportation projects on key corridors to $18 billion from $10 billion in last year’s plan. Half the money would go to states under a normal formula approach and the rest through a competitive grant program.
   The updated GROW America Act would be paid for through a one-time windfall associated with corporate tax reform, although political observers question the chances of any tax overhaul in the near future even though several Democrats and Republicans have recently advanced similar ideas.
   “The future is coming for us, whether we are ready or not,” Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in his “Fast Lane” blog upon unveiling the updated GROW America Act. “We cannot wait until the highways are filled with cars to start building more roads, or until the platforms are crammed with people to add more trains. We must prepare for the future today.”
   Before Congress debates a multi-year transportation spending blueprint, it must address a looming funding shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund.
   Temporary spending authority supported by $11 billion from the General Fund currently being used to prop up the Highway Trust Fund runs out at the end of May. The Highway Trust Fund has in the past collected gas and diesel taxes to be disbursed to states for maintenance and upgrade of roads on the national highway system. The fund is in trouble for several reasons. Inflation has eroded the buying power of the HTF because fuel taxes have not been increased since 1993; receipts per mile traveled are lower because cars are more fuel efficient and the tax is assessed on each gallon purchased; and more investment is needed to accommodate rising traffic volumes.
   The funding uncertainty has already forced Tennessee, Arkansas, Delaware and Wyoming to collectively delay more than $1 billion in projects, according to the Department of Transportation. Georgia has set aside $715 million in projects and Mississippi has shifted its transportation dollars to only cover smaller maintenance efforts.
   Another short-term extension of transportation programs at existing levels is the most likely scenario, according to Capitol Hill observers, as there is widespread disagreement in Congress about how to make up for any revenue shortfalls from user fees.
   The simplest solution, and one backed by industry groups such as the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is to raise the motor fuels tax, but tax increases are a hard sell for lawmakers trying to show voters that government waste is under control.
   The President’s plan includes $317 billion to rebuild roads and bridges, an increase of almost 29 percent over current investment in the system and $143 billion to improve transit and passenger rail services. Another $1 billion per year would go towards credit assistance for national or regionally significant transportation projects that have private investors through the TIFIA program.
   The transportation plan again proposes the establishment of a national infrastructure bank that would essentially provide seed capital for projects supported by public-private partnerships. It also includes President Obama’s recent action to create a new tax-exempt Qualified Public Infrastructure Bond program that would extend the benefits of municipal bonds to partnerships whereby local governments outsource financing and management of facilities under long-term leases to private companies.
   The Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery grants program would be increased to $1.25 billion per year, up more than 150 percent from last year’s $500 million appropriation.
   GROW America also calls for the creation of a new Office of Safety Oversight to improve safety efforts across all modes of transportation. It also features measures to streamline the federal permitting process and conduct more timely reviews. It dedicates approximately $6 billion over six years for a competitive grant program designed to create incentives for states and local governments to adopt critical reforms in a variety of areas, including safety and peak traffic demand management. 
   “I appreciate that the administration has come to the table with a concrete idea for paying for this comprehensive bill, and I think using tax revenue coming home from overseas is an idea Congress should consider among others. But I want to be clear that one-time revenues do not address the long-term structural problems with the Highway Trust Fund,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said in a statement. “I plan to keep working with my colleagues in Congress to find a bipartisan agreement on a sustainable solution to paying for these infrastructure investments that an overwhelming majority of us believe are critical to our country’s future.”