Sen. McCaskill Slams Colleagues Over Highway Inertia

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DALLAS - The lack of congressional action on a long-term transportation bill just weeks before the current Highway Trust Fund patch expires is "a joke," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said at a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee's transportation panel on Tuesday.

The HTF extension will expire May 31 but lawmakers have not yet dealt with a multiyear proposal that would resolve a $16 billion a year revenue gap in the transportation fund, McCaskill said.

"We're 26 days away [from the May 31 HTF extension deadline] and we don't even have a bill," McCaskill said. "This is a joke."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they support a multiyear transportation bill but there have been no movement to resolve disagreements on where to find the additional revenue needed, she said.

"Give us a bill we can disagree on," McCaskill said. "That would at least show that we're trying."

McCaskill conceded that there is scant chance a six-year transportation bill can be adopted by the end of the month. Other issues, including the debt ceiling and trade pacts, are taking much of Congress's time.

"It is clear to me that the only thing they are going to do is a patch," she said. "We all act like something is going to change and we all know it is not."

Panel chairwoman Deb Fischer, R-Neb., agreed that Congress will opt to for a short extension to the HTF's solvency.

"A short-term extension is highly likely," she said.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said earlier this week that Senate Democrats would try to block action on trade proposals until there is movement on a transportation bill. "I'm not willing to lay over and play dead on trade until we have some commitment from them on surface transportation," he added.

McCaskill hinted at the hearing that some senators may seek a vote on a long-term highway bill before the end of May.

She asked panel witness Janet Kavinoky, executive director of transportation and infrastructure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, if the Chamber would support an effort to get a multiyear bill passed before May 31.

"What if some of us decide we're done with the short-term patches?" she said to Kavinoky. "Would the Chamber score the vote [use it as a benchmark when awarding letter grades to lawmakers]?"

Kavinoky said it would. "We've scored every transportation bill for years," she said. "If it's a choice between a long-term bill and a short-term patch, we'll score it."

Kavinoky said a 12-cent per gallon increase in both the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents and diesel tax of 24.4 cents with regular adjustments for inflation would provide additional transportation infrastructure funding.

The gasoline tax is a "five star" revenue source, she told the subcommittee members.

"The simplest, most straightforward, elegant solution to the immediate problem we face is to increase user fees — gasoline and diesel taxes — going into the HTF," she said. "Adding a penny a month for a year and indexing the total user fee to inflation could support current services funding levels for the foreseeable future."

Utah raised its gasoline tax this year for the first time since 1997 to provide an additional $75 million a year for highways, said state Sen. Curt Bramble, president-elect of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The five-cent increase to 29.5 cents per gallon restored the purchasing power that state gasoline tax lost to inflation over the last 18 years, Bramble said.

"The decision was not an easy one, nor was it taken lightly," he said "In our very conservative state, raising taxes is not a regular occurrence."

NCSL supports an increase in the federal gasoline tax for transportation funding but wants provisions in the next multiyear transportation bill that would let states experiment with other revenue sources, Bramble said.

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