Rep. Boozman says Americans would pay for infrastructure if they see benefit

The good thing about infrastructure spending is that not only does it create jobs, it also presents economic opportunity in the future, Rep. John Boozman, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said during an appearance on “View from the Hill” on Transportation TV.

The Trucker News Services

4/21/2009

WASHINGTON — Americans will support paying more for highways and bridges when they know they’ll benefit from the money spent, Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., believes.

What’s more, the good thing about infrastructure spending is that not only does it create jobs, it also presents economic opportunity in the future, Boozman, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said during an appearance on “View from the Hill” on Transportation TV.

Transportation TV is the Web-based television channel of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“One of the reasons we’ve had such a great economy is the fact that our infrastructure has been so good,” Boozman said. “And yet at this point, we need to devote a lot of dollars to maintaining it and push forward.”

The federal government is going to have to spend more money, but state and local governments are going to have to chip in, too, he said.

“The good news is that when you present that (the need to spend money on the infrastructure) to the taxpayers and say ‘we’re going to build this road or this bridge,’ generally, they are pretty good about supporting it,” Boozman said. “What they want are things that are going to benefit them locally and benefit the economy.”

Boozman noted the problems that he said lie ahead related to funding sources.

“Everytime you buy a gallon of gasoline, so much goes into the federal trust fund,” he said. “But the reality is that Americans aren’t driving as much, so that decreases the fund. And they really are going to smaller vehicles that are getting better gas mileage, and then, too, we are mandating better gas mileage. Those are all good things, but with increased gas mileage, you just don’t have the funding mechanisms to address the problems that you have. So at some point we are going to have to figure out a different mechanisms for how we do the road tax.”

Figuring out those mechanisms, Boozman said, is going to take the wisdom of Solomon.

“It’s going to take Republicans, Democrats, the president and the American people coming together and figuring out what’s fair in that regard,” he said.

The congressman said there is a need to act quickly.

“The thing we’re seeing is that there are lots of areas of the country where right now things are fixable,” Boozman said. “But you get to the point of so much disrepair that you have to start ripping things out and the expense is tremendous as compared to fixing it. We can’t get in that situation.”

The good news is that Congress is not afraid to spend tax dollars on the infrastructure, Boozman said.

“The question is how do we get future dollars in the sense of tax revenues when we see less dollars in the highway trust fund,” he said. “But we’ll figure all those things out.”

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