Highway Trust Fund Expected to Remain Solvent Through May 2016

The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced earlier this month that the Highway Trust Fund will remain solvent until May 2016 due to a slight uptick in gasoline and trucking excise taxes combined with running a surplus from a slowdown of construction during the winter months. The latest $8 billion extension passed in July by Congress was expected to last until December 2015. Last week’s announcement from DOT provides lawmakers with additional time to come up with a plan to fund a long-term highway bill. However, since transportation program authorization expires on October 29, another short-term extension of policy will be needed.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) was expected to release a highway bill last week with a markup of the bill this Thursday, September 17. House Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) commented about the delay in introducing the highway bill over the weekend, stating that the T&I Committee is now aiming to introduce a bill by the end of September or early October. A detailed plan on how to fund a long-term bill has yet to be released by House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). Chairman Shuster said that he does not want to do what the Senate did and pass a bill with six years of authorization, but only three years of funding. On Friday, September 11, NRMCA along with 68 other transportation and industry stakeholders sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging passage of a six-year surface transportation bill. Click here to read the House letter. NRMCA also signed onto the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) letter sent to Senate members thanking them for the passage of the DRIVE Act before the August recess.

For more information please contact NRMCA’s Kerri Leininger at kleininger@nrmca.org.