North Coast congressmen: Stopgap fix for highway funding falls short

As lawmakers cobble together a temporary fix for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, the North Coast’s two congressional representatives have reiterated their call for a long-term plan to fund federal highway projects.

Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said the highway funding bill that the House passed last week does little to address the long-term health of the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which accounts for half of California’s transportation spending.

Officials have cautioned that the trust fund will run out of money at the end of the summer. Dire warnings of shuttered highway projects, laid off construction workers and the postponement of badly needed infrastructure maintenance have goaded lawmakers into action, and the House last week passed a stop-gap measure that would keep the Trust Fund solvent through May.

“What Congress did was the least it could do,” said Thompson, speaking at an event on Monday to dedicate the new interchange at Airport Boulevard and Highway 101 north of Santa Rosa. “It’s a bit embarrassing. My side lost out on that debate.”

The House bill provides $11.8 billion to fund highway projects until after the election cycle, at which time lawmakers would be forced to revisit the issue. The funding comes from a change in the way corporations fund their employee pensions. Corporations would be allowed to defer pension payments, temporarily increasing their taxable income and generating government revenue, but potentially creating more debt over the long-term.

Huffman, who along with Thompson, voted for last week’s bill, said the fix was better than letting highway funding run dry.

“I’m disappointed that what we have here is a gimmicky, short-term, stop-gap solution,” he said. “I will take a stop-gap over watching transportation projects grind to a halt all over the country.”

Huffman co-sponsored a bill that would have kept the Highway Trust Fund solvent in the short-term by closing corporate tax loopholes. That bill did not get a vote in the House.

The Senate is expected to take up a 10-month highway funding measure this week. Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, indicated that she does not support the House’s short-term fix. She has pushed for an even shorter-term patch through December, which would force lawmakers to craft a more robust highway funding bill this year.

“Sadly, the House has kicked the can down the road and has decided to shirk its responsibility to fix the Highway Trust Fund in this Congress,” she said in a statement. “They have failed to send a message of certainty and confidence to the thousands of businesses and millions of workers who have asked us to act this year on a long-term solution for transportation.”

The Environment and Public Works Committee in May passed a bill that would fund federal highway projects for six years.

The 18.4-cent federal gas tax, which currently pays for most highway projects, has not been raised since 1993.

Gas tax revenues have not kept pace with infrastructure expenses, especially as cars have become more fuel efficient.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Monday called on Congress to work on a long-term solution to infrastructure funding.

“If we’re only building for the present, we are building for the past,” he said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.

“America needs more than just an incremental adjustment. We need a transportation reset, and it’s got to be big.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@PDRoadWarrior