A short-term reauthorization extension does not solve long-term problems

Even though the immediate prospects of a long-term federal surface transportation authorization remain dim, various media reports suggest that at least short-term help could be on the way.

That premise is not entirely new, given the myriad (32-plus) short-term extensions, or continuing resolutions if we are being formal, over the last six years, with the most recent one set to expire at the end of May.

A report in the Detroit News cited Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as saying that members of Congress are chipping away on a short-term $10 billion that would be allocated towards funding highway projects and repairs through the end of this year.

The members of Congress Ryan, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, include Reps. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Finance Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

“We are running numbers,” Ryan said in the report, adding that the talks are at an early stage “to figure out the short-term patch.” He also said that Congress doesn’t need to extend for the end of the year for tax reasons but in order for states to do better road repair planning. “We have to come up with $10 billion,” Ryan said. “We’re not going to raise gas taxes.”

That last part hardly comes as a surprise, considering that the federal gasoline tax has not been raised from current levels since 1993, with the political will to raise it in subsequent years fading faster than campfire ashes to say the least.

As reported in this space and in our print edition, there have been several proposals made by Congress and the White House for a new long-term bill, but none have really seen the light of day for a whole host of reasons.

Sadly, one of those reasons is, or at least comes across as, that transportation funding in many instances does not appear to be high on the priority list in D.C. Given the many economic travails we have seen since the Great Recession, one can see why that is the case, but at the same time, more, make that something or anything, needs to get done.

What’s more, take a long-term view on this. In the DOT’s DOT recent report entitled “Beyond Traffic,” various troubling findings regarding the current state of U.S. transportation infrastructure were revealed, including: drivers spend more than 40 hours per year stuck in traffic; 65 percent of the roads they drive on are in less than good condition; one of four bridges they cross needs to be replaced; over the next 30 years, Americans will ask more out of the country’s transportation than ever before, while the country’s population will grow by 70 million, and freight traffic will increase by 45 percent.

Ryan’s comments follow the White House’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget, which was released in February, and the Department of Transportation’s second crack at its Grow America Act, which was introduced in late March.

Both of these bills are quite ambitious in terms of the dollar amounts proposed and freight-specific components that highlight a multi-modal freight program focused on strengthening the nation’s exports and trade, among other initiatives.

Make no mistake, it all looks great on paper, until we get to the matter of funding, that is. No surprises there.

In the Grow America Act, DOT is proposing that funding would be done by supplementing current Highway Trust Fund (HTF) revenues, which are primarily from the federal gasoline tax, in conjunction with a 14 percent transition tax up to $2 trillion of untaxed foreign earnings U.S. companies have accumulated overseas.  This measure, said DOT, would prevent Trust Fund insolvency for six years, as well as increase investment to meet national economic goals.

James Burnley, a partner at Washington, D.C.-based law firm Venable LLP and former Secretary of Transportation under the late President Ronald Reagan, made it clear that there will absolutely be another short-term extension but the length of that remains unknown.

“All the key players are unhappy, and there is no real visible movement on this in the short term in respect to securing a long-term bill, which is needed,” he said. “There is a consensus that we need to invest in infrastructure but less of a consensus about how much and basically no real consensus about how to pay it forward so there is a lot of work to do to get to a multi-year bill.”

That comes from someone that knows more than most when it comes to these issues. As things stand now-and have for a while-there is a long way to go. But getting there remains as challenging as ever.