Transportation chair opposes change in House spending rule

A diverse group of organizations, including the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the House leadership last week saying the proposed rule change should be dropped because it would break a pledge with motorists by allowing federal gas tax revenues to be withheld instead of invested in transportation improvements.

The Trucker Staff

1/3/2011

WASHINGTON  —  The incoming chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is among those opposed to a change in the House rules that transportation stakeholders say could jeopardize transportation funding.

A diverse group of organizations, including the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the House leadership last week saying the proposed rule change should be dropped because it would break a pledge with motorists by allowing federal gas tax revenues to be withheld instead of invested in transportation improvements.

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The House Republican Conference is expected to vote on the rules change Tuesday and the full House on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said the incoming chairman, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., is opposed to the change and is working to resolve the issue before the vote.

“We are concerned that the change would eliminate important trust fund protections,” the spokesman said. “Prior to these protections being put in place (in 1998), appropriators were able to spend less money than was coming into the trust fund (collected for highways and transit) to justify increasing spending in other areas of the budget.”

The spokesman said that while the current rule doesn't technically allow highway trust funds to be spent on other things, it allows a balance to accrue and that those growing balances were used to mask other spending.

The proposed rule is a repeal of the guaranteed funding requirement for annual federal highway investment, opponents of the change say, adding that guaranteed investment levels are based on incoming Highway Trust Fund revenues.

The proposal would allow Congress to hold highway investment levels below incoming trust fund revenues to offset spending in other parts of the federal budget, opponents say.

The rule change would “make annual federal highway and transit investments subject to the whims of the appropriations process,” the letter said.

The Trucker staff may be contacted to comment at editor@thetrucker.com.

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