WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley, a chief negotiator on legislation to ensure the Highway Trust Fund had adequate funding to continue building and maintaining the nation’s highways and bridges, today applauded congressional passage of a bill that would make sure that funding will not have to be cut to the states for highways and bridges.
The legislation that passed today and is expected to immediately be signed by the president, reimburses the Highway Trust Fund with $8 billion from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury. This reverses a statutory transfer of fuel taxes from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund in 1998.
“Today’s action will give states the certainty they need to continue to maintain and improve the highways and bridges Americans travel on every day. States rely on the partnership they have with the federal government when it comes to building and maintaining highways and bridges and they need to know that the funding spelled out in the highway bill will be there. This shortfall could have caused construction disruptions to thousands of important improvement projects all across the country,” Grassley said.
The federal government pays for highways and bridges through fuel and other excise taxes. Record high gas prices and more fuel efficient vehicles have resulted in lower receipts for the Highway Trust Fund than what was anticipated when the Highway Reauthorization Bill was signed into law in 2005.
Every five years
Congress considers legislation to re-authorize the federal highway program.
The Senate Finance Committee, which Grassley is the ranking member, was in charge of determining how the government raised the money to pay for the highway and transit programs authorized in the 2005 highway bill.
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