Go by Truck News: New Funding Bill Hits House

A group of United States Congressmen have introduced a bill that would fund the Highway Trust Fund for 1.7 years and impose incentives for Congress to pass long-term funding legislation. The current short-term extension of the latest highway bill, MAP-21, expires in May, when infrastructure funding will run out.

The Bridge to Sustainable Infrastructure Act would index the current federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes to inflation, raising $27.5 billion for immediate and short-term funding needs. Perhaps even more importantly, it takes steps to ensure that Congress will get to work on the future.

The bill would mandate the creation of a bipartisan, bicameral Transportation Commission by September 1. That commission would be tasked with creating a long-term highway funding act. Congress would have until Dec. 31, 2016, to enact the commission's recommendations or some other funding mechanism that would last at least three years. If it fails to do so, fuel taxes would increase to the point of being able to maintain the Highway Trust Fund for an additional three years. If, at the end of that three-year period, Congress had still not passed long-term funding, the taxes would increase again to meet the needs of the next five years. All together, the bill ensures funding for at least 10 years.

Introduced by Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican, the bill has bipartisan support, with eight Republican and 11 Democratic co-sponsors. Several major organizations have also come out in support of the measure, including AAA, AFL-CIO, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Trucking Associations, the Associated General Contractors, the Highway Users Alliance, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"We need to act now to fix the broken system," said Renacci, along with primary co-sponsors Reps. Reid Ribble, Bill Pascrell and Dan Lipinski, in a statement. "The users of our roads, workers, and state and local governments need the certainty that adequate and timely transportation program reauthorizations and funding provide. The Bridge to Sustainable Infrastructure Act allows for the consideration of all viable options so that Congress can get serious about finding a long-term, sustainable solution for the Highway Trust Fund."