Roll Call: Wanted, Lawmakers to Invest in the Future
media mentionThis sign should be plastered all over Washington, D.C., as lawmakers return from summer break. Congress has had the past five weeks to visit their homes and travel on America’s crumbling highway system.
It is time for lawmakers to craft a long-term solution which includes multiple funding sources for transportation infrastructure, rather than relying on just one pot of money.
The outdated gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1993, yet it makes up about 85 percent of the nation’s transportation funding. As Americans find more environmentally-friendly means of travel, such as transit, bicycles and electric vehicles, they spend less on gas and less gas tax is generated. This results in an ever dwindling revenue stream for transportation infrastructure.
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Earlier this year, Congress failed to settle on a funding solution punted the issue by transferring $53 billion from “pension savings” to the transportation fund. According to a report prepared by the nonprofit think tank Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “by 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.”