House Subcommittee Holds Oversight Hearing Examining Highway Trust Fund Financial Status
House Subcommittee Holds Oversight Hearing Examining Highway Trust Fund Financial Status On Tuesday, July 23rd, the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transits held an oversight hearing entitled: “How the Financial Status of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) Impacts Surface Transportation Programs.” The hearing included two witnesses, representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
According to the most recent full-fiscal year data available from the DOT, in fiscal year 2012 the Highway Account’s revenue was $37.6 billion and the Transit Account’s revenue was $5.0 billion for a total of $42.6 billion, while expenditures totaled $49.3 billion.
In fiscal year 2015, the Highway Account’s revenue is projected to be $33.8 billion and the Transit Account’s revenue is projected to be $4.9 billion for a total of $38.7 billion, while expenditures are projected to total $53.2 billion, according to CBO estimates. In fiscal year 2015, CBO estimates that the HTF will have a cash shortfall of $8.7 billion. This projected cash shortfall will grow in subsequent years if left unaddressed, with CBO estimating that the HTF will face a cash deficit of $132.6 billion in fiscal year 2023.
According to the written testimony of Mr. Kim Cawley, Chief, Natural and Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit of the CBO, “Lawmakers could also address the projected annual shortfalls by substantially reducing spending for surface transportation programs, by boosting revenues, or by adopting some combination of the two approaches. Bringing the trust fund into balance in 2015 would require entirely eliminating the authority in that year to obligate funds (projected to be about $51 billion), raising the taxes on motor fuels by about 10 cents per gallon, or undertaking some combination of those approaches.”
Members of the Committee discussed other possible funding options including; examining a national vehicle-mile travelled tax (VMT), using increased revenue from gas and oil exploration, and a transfer from the general fund. Addressing this problem will not be an easy task for Congress, as all the proposed “solutions” have their problems both with implementation and politically.
