highways
2 pieces tagged “highways”, newest first.
Congress Uses ‘Sleight of Hand’ to Pay for Highway Bill
After much debate and considerable delay, the House of Representatives has finally passed a highway funding bill. A big question that delayed the bill’s passage was whether the federal fuel tax would be increased to fully cover planned spending from the highway trust fund. Since it was crafted by the Republican majority that opposed tax increases, the legislation did not increase the tax on gasoline or diesel fuel. Instead, the bill pays for much of the difference between projected expenditures and fuel tax revenues by draining $59 billion from the capital of the Federal Reserve. As the former head of the Congressional budget office Alice Rivlin points out, this is “a new low in budgetary gimmickry.”