House, Senate Approval Paves Way for Highway Trust Fund Fix

The AGC of America praised the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for passage of HR 6532 legislation that will transfer $8 billion from the general fund of the Treasury to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). All members of the Washington State Congressional delegation supported the legislation.

House and Senate leaders addressed the shortfall in a bipartisan fashion. The bill will prevent a shortfall in federal funds available to reimburse states for work undertaken on federal aid highways around the country. The delay in repaying the states would have jeopardized future state highway projects and slowed down the work on on-going federal-aid highway construction projects.

We knew this shortfall was coming and we have made this a priority for the last two years said Stephen E. Sandherr chief executive officer of AGC. The money was set to run out states were going to be left holding the bag and contractors would have been forced to lay people off.

The legislation will now move to the Presidents desk for signature. Once the bill is signed the Federal Highway Administration will resume its long-standing procedure of reimbursing states on a daily basis for the full amount submitted.

Were relieved that the Administration finally decided to join us in supporting this fix and that Congress was able to get it done quickly added Sandherr. We can now turn our focus to working with Congress on the heavy lifting that will ensure a strong well-funded program in the future.

The Highway Trust Fund which funds highway and bridge construction projects and is funded by the 18.3 cents federal gas tax was projected to run out of money by the end of the month. The funding shortfall is primarily due to continuing reductions in vehicle miles traveled by the nations drivers who are reacting to high gas prices. Numerous state departments of transportation announced that if the full federal funds were not forthcoming they would be forced to cancel contract lettings slow down work on on-going projects and in some cases be forced to issue debt to make payments to contractors for work that is already under way.

AGC has been calling on Congress and the Administration to work together to guard against insolvency since its financial instability became apparent in the Presidents 2007 budget proposal submitted to Congress in February 2006.