Congress has approved a five-year, $305 billion transportation bill that extends federal transportation funding for five years and boosts spending on aging and congested roads and transit systems. The bill puts an end to the cycle of temporary extensions and threatened shutdowns of transportation programs over the past seven years. Transportation spending was set to expire today, December 4.
The bill was approved yesterday on a 359-65 vote in the House and an 83-16 vote in the Senate. The 1,300-page bill now goes to the White House for President Obama’s signature.
Dubbed the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act,” the bill increases highway spending by 15 percent and transit spending by 18 percent over the bill’s duration. Approximately $205 billion will be spent on highways and $48 billion on transit projects over the next five years. It will authorize $10 billion over five years for Amtrak, $12 billion for mass transit, and $1 billion for vehicle safety programs.
The long-sought bill protects funding for transit from those who argued it should be cut loose from the highway bill, increases money for pedestrian and cycle programs that also have come under attack, and includes nearly $200 million to speed installation of a critical railroad safety feature known as positive train control.
The bill fails short of the $400 billion over six years that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said is needed to keep traffic congestion from becoming worse as well as putting off the decision of how to sustainably pay for transportation programs. The bill formally reauthorizes the collection of 18.4 cents per gallon gas tax, the main source of Highway Trust Fund revenue that pays for transportation projects. However, the gas tax has not been raised since 1993 and no longer covers annual spending on transportation. The federal government typically spends about $50 billion per year on transportation projects, the gas tax only brings in $34 billion annually.
A key reason that the House opted not to raise the gas tax, despite outspoken support for an increase from the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the automobile group AAA, labor unions, and truckers was the pledge that some members made to never raise taxes. In addition, some Republicans belief that the federal government should be less involved in transportation. States could then set their own priorities and decide whether to fund non-roadway items such as transit and pedestrian projects.
The bill goes to the White House for the president’s signature this week.
