DALLAS — State transportation departments will face a $46.8 billion cut in federal transportation funding in fiscal 2015 if Congress fails to shore up the Highway Trust Fund, according to a new report from a transportation advocacy group.
The report from Transportation For America said California will see a shortfall of $5 billion unless Congress finds additional revenue for highways and transit, Texas and New York will face cuts of $4 billion and $3 billion, respectively.
Congress must pass a new highway bill with a more robust Highway Trust Fund, the report said. The current two-year transportation bill expires at the end of fiscal 2014 on Sept. 30.
The Congressional Budget Office has projected the gasoline and diesel taxes that supply revenue to the Highway Trust Fund will not be able to fund new highway and bridge projects beginning in fiscal 2015.
The approximately $34 billion a year in tax revenues would be sufficient to maintain pledged funding only for current projects, CBO said.
Highway funding is at a crossroads with the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund, said Sarah Kline, policy director at Transportation for America and author of the report, "The End of the Road? The Looming Fiscal Disaster for Transportation."
"Unless Congress adds new revenue to the trust fund, the federal government will be unable to commit to funding new projects, depriving states and localities of resources critical to maintaining and improving the infrastructure that makes our economy possible," she said.
The highway account of the HTF may be depleted as early as July or August, the Transportation Department has said. State reimbursements from the fund for highway projects may be curtailed when the cash balance in the fund hits $4 billion.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Thursday that Congress should replenish the Highway Trust Fund with revenues generated from reforms to the corporate tax code.
Murray, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, challenged Republicans to join with Democrats in tax reform. Transportation proposals by President Obama and House Ways & Means chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., both call for corporate tax reform to help fund transportation, she said.
"I'm hoping Republicans will come to the table, willing to close just a few corporate loopholes, so we can avoid an unnecessary crisis in the Highway Trust Fund," Murray said.
"But if Republicans aren't willing to work with us, they should have to explain why egregious corporate tax loopholes are more important than workers in our construction industry, and more important than drivers and businesses that rely on safe roads and bridges," she said.
Several congressional hearings this week will focus on developing the next surface transportation infrastructure bill and how to pay for it.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on renewing the current highway bill, Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century. Witnesses will include Jayan Dhru, managing director for infrastructure ratings at Standard & Poor's, and Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne Jr.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is the sole witness scheduled for Wednesday afternoon's hearing on reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The transportation subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee is expected to take testimony on the proposed highway bill this week but no hearing had been set by Friday afternoon.
