Still no satisfaction on the horizon for long-term surface transportation authorization

In a classic Rolling Stones tune, Mick Jagger once sang how “Time is on my side,” and based on how they keep playing for what seems like forever, it seems like Mick was right. But when it comes to the patchwork extensions for United States surface transportation authorization, another Stones tune, “Time waits for no one,” may actually be more appropriate, it seems.

The reason for this is simple: at the end of the month, the most recent extension for federal surface transportation authorization again expires. This is a theme that has been brought up far too many types than ever imagined. But then again, given the current state of Congress and related productivity, maybe not.

So, in the interest of “time,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) yesterday introduced the Highway Transportation and Funding Act of 2015. 

If passed by both the House and Senate and then signed into law by the President, this bill would reauthorize surface transportation programs through December 18, 2015 and be paid with roughly $8 billion in common sense reforms, according to Ryan and Shuster.

“This country needs a long-term plan to fix our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, and this bill gives us our best shot at completing one this year,” they said in a statement. “By providing resources through the end of the year, we can ensure construction continues while we work toward a package that could close the [highway] trust fund’s shortfall for as many as six years. We urge all members who want some long-sought stability in our highway and transit programs to support this critical extension.”

As for specifically where this roughly $8 billion comes from, the House duo said about $5 billion comes from provisions improving tax compliance and preventing people from underpaying obligations by understating their tax liabilities, with another $3 billion from reduced spending.

A document from the House Ways and Means Committee outlined the offsets that would result in the roughly $8 billion needed to make this plan come to fruition. It includes:
-requiring lenders to report more information on outstanding mortgages, with an offset estimate of $1.086 billion;
-clarifying the statute of limitations on reassessing certain tax returns, with an offset estimate of $1.206 billion;
-requiring estates to report the value of property upon the owner’s death, with an offset estimate of $1.542 billion;
-adjust tax-filing deadlines for business, with an offset estimate of $314 million;
-allowing employers to transfer excess defined-benefit plan assets to retiree medical accounts and group life insurance, with an offset estimate of $172 million;
-equalizing taxes on natural-gas fuels, with a tax relief estimate of $90 million; and
-extending current budget treatment of TSA fees, with an offset estimate of $3.160 billion

On one hand you need to give Ryan and Shuster credit for taking some initiative to move things forward and at least keep a place setter intact in hopes of advancing an overdue and badly-needed bill.

And, as previously reported in this space there are various reasons why that is the case, including how the most recent two month extension, continuing resolution in political speak, or whatever it should be called is the 33rd one that has been enacted since the last actual multi-year bill SAFETEA-LU, expired back in 2009.

While these extensions keep funding at the same levels, with the Highway Trust Fund essentially insolvent, current state of U.S. transportation infrastructure remains in a constant state of disrepair.

On another hand, in case you though you did not see the phrase, “raise the federal gasoline tax for the first time since 1993,” your eyes are not playing tricks on you. It was not included, because it is not good for business for our elected officials, even though time and time again it has been broached as a way to make things better in terms of surface transportation authorization or at least help us get back onto a road to recovery at least.

Yes, it is true people are driving less and that the Highway Trust Fund is constantly teetering on the edge of insolvency, but there are ways to change things, too, like indexing the federal gasoline tax to inflation for one, rather than the non-transportation steps listed above, many of which appear on the surface to be reaches at best.

Will this Ryan-Shuster bill get the votes needed to pass and move forward and keep things where they are and have been into December? That remains to be seen. While it is a longer patch than the current soon to expire two-month patch currently in place, which is a good thing, it still is not even close to what is truly needed.

A recent editorial in The Washington Post summed up things pretty well, I thought: “A few lawmakers, meanwhile, still cling to the hope that Congress will do the most rational thing and increase the federal gasoline tax. The best approach would be to increase the gas tax. The tax-reform scheme is a second-best approach. Merely extending the status quo for another few years without significant new revenue is the worst idea out there, and President Obama should make clear he won’t accept it.”

That seems to make the most sense, which essentially means it has little to no chance in Congress. In other words, we can continue to expect to “get no Satisfaction,” when it comes to meaningful surface transportation authorization progress.