Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Chair, the Department of Transportation estimates that the Highway Trust Fund will run short of funds this August, and that Congress will have to transfer $5-7 billion to it to avoid a shortfall. This shortfall is occurring because the gas tax is becoming obsolete. As vehicles become more fuel efficient, they increase the demand on our transportation system, without contributing as much to its maintenance. The current revenue system has lost 33% of its purchasing power during the last 15 years, today generating only two-thirds of the revenues needed to maintain current levels of investment. Until we tie our transportation revenues to our transportation demands, this situation will worsen.

Failure to adequately fund transportation infrastructure imposes huge costs on American citizens and businesses:

Congestion costs urban Americans 4.2 billion hours and 2.8 billion unnecessary gallons of fuel each year; expressed in dollar terms this is $87.2 billion, or $757 per traveler.

Roughly 40,000 people every year are killed on our streets and highways, with 2.5 million more injured, at a staggering annual economic cost to society.

Higher transportation costs and higher inventory carrying costs--partially attributable to an unreliable transportation system--have pushed logistics costs to nearly 10% of GDP.

Failure to act puts America on hold, when we should be putting America to work.

It is time we sought out innovative solutions to this challenging problem. The Oregon Department of Transportation successfully tested a model where they charged drivers for the number of miles they traveled rather than the fuel they consumed. The test was convenient for drivers, protected personal privacy, and proved easily administrable. This concept was also highlighted by two blue ribbon commissions established in the prior transportation authorization. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission noted that a vehicle miles traveled charge is ``the most promising alternative revenue measure'' to our existing gas tax, while the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission reported that ``a charge for each mile driven ..... has emerged as the consensus choice for the future.'' Both commissions found that this system was efficient at raising revenue, closely linked system demand to revenues, and could win broad public support.

My legislation calls on the Department of the Treasury to study the viability of this revenue source in every State. While evaluating mileage based revenue sources, Treasury will ensure the system protects privacy and is simple to administer. It will also convene working groups to address the most complex aspects of this transition, including road use, demand management and climate change, and technological needs. Finally, the bill creates a grant program to ensure the necessary technology is available.

The condition of our national highway and transit systems and the maintenance of our infrastructure, and the investments that we make in these systems, touch the life of every American, strengthen our economy, and protect our environment. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important legislation.

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