The White House said Monday it sees “significant shortcomings” in new legislation to fund highway and transportation projects, but stopped short of saying President Obama would veto the bill if it made it to his desk.
The House bill funds highway programs for six years at current spending levels. That means $261 billion for highways, $55 billion for transit systems, and about $9 billion for safety programs.
But the Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget said current levels are “widely acknowledged to be below the level needed to maintain this country’s surface transportation infrastructure, let alone improve it.”
Without spending more on the nation’s roads, infrastructure and mass transit systems, Congress “will guarantee that roadway conditions and congestion worsen in the years ahead,” OMB stated. “The Congress should be thinking big, not locking in a worsening system.”
Among other things, the Obama administration objects to provisions that would prevent the Transportation Department from publishing some truck and bus safety data; rollback safety inspections on motor coaches; and potentially strike a new rule regarding the braking systems of trains carrying flammable liquids.
The White House also wants Congress to use the highway bill to reinstate the Export-Import Bank’s charter, which expired June 30. Both the House and Senate have passed legislation reauthorizing the nation’s export credit agency, but key House leaders, including Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., want to leave the moribund agency alone.
OMB touted the administration’s transportation package, the Grow America Act, which, unlike the House bill, is fully funded. The current House package only provides funding for the first three years. Lawmakers will have to decide on the floor how to make up the shortfall, as revenue projections from the gas tax that tops off the Highway Trust Fund’s coffers will not be enough.
OMB says the administration’s proposal would provide “robust funding for all modes of surface transportation, shortening commute times and expediting travel for families and freight” and would “streamline project approval processes [and] implement innovative transportation policies to make better use of taxpayer dollars.”
The White House proposal would cover highway and transportation spending, in part, by ending corporate tax rules “that reward companies for moving profits overseas,” OMB stated.
The House opens debate on the package Tuesday, with almost 30 amendments already slated for floor consideration. More than 260 amendments have been offered and the Rules Committee meets Tuesday afternoon to sort through them all.
