Hatch: ‘A six-year highway bill is a great goal’

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday he thinks a six-year transportation funding bill sought by infrastructure advocates is “a great goal” and said he is “committed to working to get us as close to that goal as possible.”

Lawmakers are scrambling to come up with a way to pay for an extension of an infrastructure funding measure scheduled to expire on July 31.  

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said during a Thursday hearing that his preference is for lawmakers to pass a long-term extension to avoid repeats of the upcoming “highway cliff.” 

{mosads}”I want to make it clear at the outset that my goal as chairman of this committee to find a way to fund a long-term infrastructure bill,” he said before ticking of a list of challenges that will make it difficult for Congress to craft such a measure in the next six weeks.

“Long story short, a six-year highway bill is a great goal,” Hatch continued. “I’m committed to working to get us as close to that goal as possible.” 

Lawmakers are grappling with a shortfall in transportation spending that is estimated to be about $16 billion per year, and they have not passed an infrastructure package that lasts longer than two years since 2005.

The current transportation funding legislation includes about $50 billion in annual spending on road and transit projects.

The traditional source for transportation funding is revenue collected from the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gas tax. But the tax, which has not been increased since 1993, only brings in about $34 billion per year. 

Lawmakers have turned to other parts of the federal budget to fill the gap in recent years, but transportation advocates have complained the resulting temporary patches prevent states from completing long-term construction projects.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated it will take about $100 billion to close the gap long enough to pay for a six-year transportation funding bill, as requested by the Obama administration.

Transportation supporters have pushed for a gas tax increase. They say it would be about 30 cents per gallon now if it had been indexed to inflation in 1993.

Lawmakers have been reluctant to ask drivers to pay more at the pump, and Republicans have ruled an increase a nonstarter.

Hatch said Thursday that there are no easy solutions to the transportation funding shortfall. 

“Right now, when it comes to highways, we find ourselves caught in a familiar dilemma, between raising taxes or cutting back on the highway program,” he said. 

He chided Democrats in the Senate for trying to blame Republicans for the situation. 

“First of all, neither party should point fingers and try to lay blame when it comes to the now-common practice of passing short-term highway extensions,” he said. “Between the 110th and 113th Congresses, when the Democrats controlled the Senate, we enacted 11 short-term highway extensions.” 

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee said Wednesday that “talk is cheap” unless it is backed up by specific long-term transportation funding proposals. 

“I am encouraged by many of the conversations I’ve had, but talk is cheap. It is time that Congress confronts the issue at hand and works together to come up with a common-sense way to pass a funding bill that can ensure the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del), who has introduced legislation to increase the gas tax.  

“There are a number of potential solutions out there, but kicking the can with another short-term patch should not be one of them,” Carper continued. “The six previous patches in the past 10 years, largely funded by general fund transfers and gimmicks, should serve as evidence that this broken cycle needs a new path.”  

Hatch noted the projections for the large amount of extra money that will be necessary to pass a long-term transportation bill. 

“We’ve all heard that the gold-standard for a long-term highway bill is six years. That’s what everyone apparently wants to see happen. Of course, according to CBO, a six-year highway bill that maintains the current spending baseline will cost roughly $92 billion,” he said. 

“You don’t find that kind of money by sifting through the cushions of your couch,” Hatch continued. “It’s going to take hard work and real policy changes to get us anywhere near that level of funding.”