A new report from the Congressional Budget Office concludes that drastic reductions in transportation spending and/or increases in the federal gas tax will be needed unless another multi-billion dollar bailout is provided for the Highway Trust Fund.
"The Highway Trust Fund won't be able to meet its obligations come 2015, according to a statement by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to the House Budget Committee," writes Ryan Holeywell. "Federal lawmakers, the report says, would have to cut transportation spending by 92 percent or raise the gas tax by more than 50 percent in order to bring revenue and spending in line."
"The surface transportation bill, MAP-21, expires at the end of the 2014 fiscal year. The CBO writes that bringing the trust fund into balance after that would require cutting federal transportation spending from $51 billion to $4 billion, raising the gas tax by 10 cents or some combination of the two."
Holeywell notes that, "since 2008, Congress has transferred $41 billion to the trust to keep it afloat, with another $12.6 billion authorized for 2014. Another $14 billion transfer would be needed to prevent the projected shortfall in 2015, the CBO writes."
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