DALLAS — The American Road & Transportation Builders Association will propose a detailed funding solution that it said could resolve the gridlock in Congress that is blocking progress on a multiyear federal highway and transit bill.
The association said its "Getting Beyond Gridlock" plan "suggests a political plan forward" but declined to be more specific before the Thursday morning news conference during which it plans to unveil the proposal.
ARTBA president Peter Ruane said at a transit conference earlier this week that a new transportation funding proposal would be forthcoming.
"We're going to be rolling out something in the next few days that will add to what's being discussed around at the moment," Ruane said during a session of at an American Public Transit Association conference.
"It's nothing incredibly novel," he said about the funding plan. "Simply a reiteration of past proposals dressed up a little bit, garnished with new information, new facts."
ARTBA's funding proposal is "aimed at getting this debate off the dime, off its rear end," Ruane said.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers will be able to support ARTBA's proposal, he said.
"I think you're going to be surprised at the bipartisan support," Ruane said. "I think it's real. I think you're finally going to see an attempt to really deal with this in the coming weeks."
Ruane and many other transportation advocates support an increase in the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax to cover an annual $13 billion revenue shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund.
The cash balance in the HTF fell so low last year that Congress had to transfer $11 billion into the HTF from the general fund to keep federal highway and transit grants flowing to the states. The 10-month extension of the fund's solvency will expire on May 31.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday that a multiyear transportation bill is possible before the May 31 deadline if an accord can be reached on revenue to fund the measure.
Senate tax policy writers are working on a long-term transportation funding plan that will be unveiled before the HTF patch expires, Hatch told Transportation Topics, a trucking industry newspaper.
"I intend to hopefully get that resolved by that time if we can," he said. "It's going to be very, very difficult to find the money. There are no simple answers."
Hatch told the newspaper that Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking Democrat on the finance panel, is working with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on finding additional revenue to support increased federal funding of transportation infrastructure.
"We just have to see what we can do," Hatch said.
In January, Hatch said it was unlikely that there is sufficient support in Congress for a higher federal gasoline tax.
"I'm saying that there [are] a lot of people that don't want that, and I doubt we're going to a gas tax," he said.
President Obama has proposed a six-year, $478 billion transportation program that would be financed with $238 billion of gasoline tax revenues and $240 billion from a one-time 14% tax on accumulated corporate foreign earnings with a minimum 9% rate for future earnings.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has introduced HR 680, a bill that would phase in a 15 cent increase in federal gasoline and diesel taxes over the next three years. He said the higher levies would generate $210 billion for the HTF over the next 10 years.
