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US Chamber to Congress on transportation bill: You're doing it wrong

The US Chamber of Commerce expressed its exasperation with lawmakers for the way Congress is attempting to fund a transportation bill crucial to highway projects and repairs. 

Monitor Breakfast

The Chamber of Commerce鈥檚 top brass has a message for Congress on transportation: You鈥檙e doing it wrong.

鈥淲hat we lack is anybody of any party willing to address the fundamental problem called money,鈥� said Bruce Josten, the chamber鈥檚 executive vice president for government affairs, during a breakfast for reporters sponsored by the Monitor Monday.

Mr. Josten and Chamber CEO Tom Donohue expressed exasperation at how Congress has attempted to fund long-term investments in America鈥檚 infrastructure and said congressional delay is costing jobs.

Members of the House and Senate are currently attempting to put together a compromise bill to extend transportation funding before a 90-day funding fix lapses at the end of June.聽

鈥淣othing happens in the states and in the communities when you鈥檝e got a 90-day or a 120-day extension,鈥� Mr. Donohue said. Governors and mayors 鈥渃an鈥檛 write a contract [to build transportation infrastructure] in that amount of time, and jobs that could be had are not going to be had.鈥�

While congressional staffers have been meeting to lay the groundwork for a deal, Josten said that Congress would likely seek another, longer extension to push the bill to year鈥檚 end or beyond.

The Senate passed a two year, $109 billion transportation bill by a 74-to-22 margin in March. The bill relies on a hodge podge of funding measures, such as tapping a trust fund for cleaning up leaks from underground storage tanks, to make ends meet.

House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio favored a five-year transportation measure linking transportation to increased energy production. When House Republicans balked at the bill鈥檚 cost, they instead passed a 90-day extension of current transportation funding levels. The measure was little more than a vehicle to get the two houses to a conference committee.

鈥淭hese guys and gals are all doing this because they鈥檙e afraid to face the fundamental issues of where we get the revenue," Donohue said. "We haven鈥檛 had an increase in the federal fuel tax in 18 years.鈥�

The federal gas tax is a primary means of funding highway construction and maintenance. The problem is that it is not indexed for inflation, so while road repair costs creep upward, the gas tax stays the same.聽The tax was last increased in 1993 to $0.184, meaning that drivers are paying more than a third less into the Highway Trust Fund than they were at the beginning of the Clinton administration.

Moreover, the sluggish economy, high gas prices, and environmental concerns have led Americans to drive less and to buy more efficient vehicles.

And that brings up the another issue nobody wants to talk about, Josten said: a vehicle miles traveled system that taxes drivers for the distances they drive. In an era of increasingly fuel-efficient vehicles, many transportation experts consider this a necessary evolution to sustainably support the nation鈥檚 bridges and roads.

鈥淓verybody wants the [transportation bill] to be fixed because they need roads and bridges to be fixed, and everybody wants the money and everybody knows [transportation] needs the money,鈥� Donohue said, but 鈥渘obody wants to take a vote on this.鈥�