House Dems, Republicans release transportation plan
By Alan Wirzbicki
WASHINGTON - Senior members of Congress, promising a sweeping, eco-friendly oevrhaul of the nation's highways and mass transit systems, released their blueprint for transportation spending today -- setting up a clash with the White House, which has asked legislators to defer a new transportation bill for now.
The proposal would spend about $500 billion on roads, bridges, mass transit and high-speed rail over the next six years. To pay for the plan, lawmakers left the door open to raising the 18.3-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax, which has been unchanged since 1993.
"Our transportation system, once the envy of the world, is losing its battle against time, growth, weather, and wear," the senior Democrats and Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said in a statement accompanying the blueprint.
Today's announcement in the House clashed with the administration, which has asked legislators to extend current policy for 18 months rather than take on the laborious task of writing an entirely new bill. The committee's chairman, Jim Oberstar, Democrat of Minnesota, and ranking member John Mica, Republican of Florida, both rejected that approach.
"We don't have time for 18 months. That puts a Damocles sword of uncertainty over the future of transportaion. It is unacceptable," Oberstar said in a press conference with Mica. "We are not in the business of delay. You've had enough of that in your transportation experience."
The Oberstar-Mica plan would direct $337 billion to highways, $100 billion for mass transit, and $50 billion for high-speed rail. It would also create a national infrastucture bank to finance large-scale projects of "national importance," and a new "office of livability" to ensure projects meet environmental goals.
The House proposals would also require the Department of Transportation to put more emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, accelerate its construction projects, and encourage links between different transportation modes.
If approved, the $50 billion for high-speed rail would mark a major departure from past bills, and add to the $8 billion included in the stimulus packaged passed in February.
Although the plan avoids explicitly calling for a higher gas tax, lawmakers warned that the current 18.3 cent-per-gallon levy would only generate $236 billion in revenues over the next six years, a total they warn would force signficant cutbacks.
"These shortfalls could result in a less of more than three million good, family-wage construction jobs," they said.
However, the Obama administration has expressed opposition to raising the gas tax during an economic recession.
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Here we go again! Spend; Spend; Spend. No attempt to control the debt; no attempt to be accountable to the taxpayer. Just do anything. Hey, lets start a program to turn the moon around so we can view the back that we have never seen. I can hardly wait for the next congressional elections, but alas the damage to my income through new taxes and national debt will have been done.
I understand the concern about raising gas taxes in a recession but a good case can be made why this is the idea time to raise gas taxes.
As a result of high gas prices last summer and the recession, vehicle miles travelled have already started decreasing. People have already proven they can adapt quickly to high gas prices so the impact of an increase in the gas tax will be minimal.
By decreasing gas use, a rise in the gas tax will mean that more of the money that people spend will stay in the US economy. This will speed the recovery. Reducing gas use could also help prevent larger price increases during the recovery which could stop the recovery in its tracks.
An increase in the tax will send a strong signal to both consumers and the auto industry that smaller, more fuel efficient cars are the wave of the future. Consumers will be more likely to purchase smaller cars during the recovery and manufacturers will feel more confident in spending the billions of dollars required to develop fuel efficient cars.
Higher gas taxes will also encourage developers to build denser walkable mixed communities that are closer to city centres and people will be more likely to purchase such housing. This will help further reduce gas usage.
The recent reduction in driving has led to lower traffic fatalities and I assume fewer injuries as well. This reduces both suffering and health care costs. At a time when the President is trying to find health care solutions, this seems like an ideal time to make the link between driving and health care.
The other risk of delay is that this will move the debate too close to the mid term elections making raising gas taxes more problematic. If the decision is delayed until after the mid terms, there may no longer be the political support in Congress for higher gas taxes and transportation reform.
Raise the gas tax and pass this bill. This is the kind of action we were wanting from the Obama administration during the campaign. This is the kind of bill that will put people back to work and transform the way people travel. This is the kind of bill that will rebuild the industrial capacity of the Rust Belt. This is the kind of bill that will prepare America for the likely fuel shortages we'll be faced with in our future. Pass the Oberstar-Mica transportation act swiftly. Write your Congressmen/Senators.
The time to raise taxes is when the economy can withstand the pressure of a higher tax rate. Now is not the time. Obama's economic policy is sounder than congress's. He says wait 18 months implying that the economy will be stronger, then we should do it. So far Obama has been wise on a whole about how he allocates resources. Congress never has been and that goes back to the 70's at least. Too may cooks spoil the soup.
I seriously doubt any Federal bill or program is going to rebuid the industrial capacity of the Rust Belt. Why? Because manufacturers have long be fleeing that area do to unions, labor laws, and generally higher costs of doing business. They have turned to the South where right to work laws tend to prevail, cost of living is lower, and the states are more pro-business in their tax structure.
The way to increase manufacturing in the U.S. is to make it cost effective to make things here. Increasing taxes of any sort, inacting Cap & Trade, and passing the Orwellian titled "Employee Free Choice Act" or whatever the Card Check bill is, will only further cripple the Rust Belt and U.S. manufacturing in general.
Congress has NEVER been accountable to the taxpayer! They sit in their Ivory towers tossing the taxpayers an occasional bone & the bonehead taxpayers keep extending their sinecure!
Why doesn't US press cover ongoing newsfeed on Peaking Oil? These protracted turf wars over highway vs. alternative transport were moot before the dust blew away on 911DAY. We were told to go shopping instead of building transportation SYSTEMS that locked energy consumption at levels not requiring dependence on unfriendly/unreliable source. Period.
See JH Kunstler "The Long Emergency" and how-to meet energy crisis book: "Electric Water" by Christopher C. Swan. Media can do book review on both, educate their respective Editorial Boards at the same time. Come on, do your duty. Recent Peak Oil chapter, after present economic collapse saga underway, is IEA report stream, Nov '08 and subsequent numbers, showing greater than anticipated annual oilfield depletion, and subsequent cancelled extraction and production projects. Oil supply problems will stifle growth. NoDuh.