Fiscal austerity is the theme of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s long-awaited proposal for reauthorizing federal surface transportation funding, which he released Thursday. Unlike the 2005 reauthorization and President Obama’s proposed reauthorization, Mica’s proposal, which is supported by other Republican subcommittee chairs but has been blasted by Democrats, calls for spending no more than revenues.
That means a bill that is less than half as large as Obama’s proposal, and about 30 percent smaller (in real dollars) than the 2005 bill. Gas tax revenues and other federal highway user fees (mainly a tax on truck tires) total about $35 billion a year, which over six years with inflation is expected to produce about $230 billion. This is well short of the $480 billion that Obama wanted to spend and also a painful drop from the $50 billion a year spent by the 2005 law. Mica blamed the shortfall on new House rules that says Congress can’t spend more than revenues.
