U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) voted in favor of a short-term patch to continue funding the nation’s transportation infrastructure through the end of July, but he wasn’t proud of it.
“It’s pathetic,” he said of the short-term extension.
The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to continue funding road and bridge projects through the Highway Trust Fund until July 31. Lawmakers are expected to take that time to work on finding a bipartisan solution to funding transportation programs over the long term.
Congress has funded the nation’s transportation system with more than 30 short-term measures.
“I was in heavy construction for about 30 years, and these constant short-term extensions are really no way to run any system, let alone something that requires the long term planning, the bidding process, the extensive reviews — it makes so much of this impossible to be successful at,” Hanna told The Ripon Advance.
The longer infrastructure projects are postponed, the higher the costs for making the repairs, added Hanna, the senior New York Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Current gas tax revenue is viewed as an insufficient source of funding for the Highway Trust Fund, with the gas tax having been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. Furthermore, fewer people are driving and there are more fuel-efficient cars on the road.
The need for a long-term plan for funding surface transportation is clear. The question becomes how to find revenue to pay for it.
“They don’t want to talk about getting it out of the general fund. Nobody wants to raise the gas tax,” Hanna said. “They’ve run out of fat, if there ever was any, and now it’s kind of where the rubber meets the road and somebody is going to have to find it.”
The uncertain outlook for federal transportation funding has halted numerous construction projects that would have repaired deficient roads and bridges in Hanna’s district in upstate New York.
The infrastructure needs in New York are noteworthy. For example, a new report from TRIP, a private nonprofit organization that researches surface transportation issues, found that rural bridges in New York have significant deficiencies. In 2014, 13 percent of New York’s rural bridges were rated as structurally deficient, the 15th highest rate in the nation, the national transportation research group said.
One way states can help local communities is by re-establishing state infrastructure banks to help fund local transportation initiatives, Hanna said. The State Transportation and Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act was introduced in February by Hanna and Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA). It would boost flexibility and encourage innovative financing for local infrastructure projects by increasing the amount of federal money allowed to capitalize a state infrastructure bank from 10 to 15 percent.
Hanna said the bill, H.R. 652, has a good chance of passing.
But for now, Hanna wants Congress to break the impasse and continue discussions on how to pay for critical infrastructure projects over multiple years, whether the focus is on repatriation or tax reform or another proposal.
“I know the importance of the issue and the urgency of funding transportation,” Hanna said. “It is a communal good. It is not about bigger government. It’s about efficient use of our resources and helping all of us – big businesses, small businesses, people everywhere — compete locally, globally, nationally.”