Congress faces deadline on transportation funding

After a two-week recess in early April, Congress returned to Washington to resume work on surface transportation funding, with a deadline looming in May.

The current federal surface transportation law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), will expire on May 31. Without congressional action, either in the form of a short-term extension of the existing law or the passage of a new one, there will be no federal funding available for transportation projects in the states, such as highway or bridge construction.

In Massachusetts, a majority of state highway and bridge projects include federal funding, and the expiration of MAP-21 without new legislation or an extension imperils their progress.

Barring congressional action prior to May 31, according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the federal Department of Transportation would be able to remain partially operational through August by using a “cash management” accounting system that could lead to stalled reimbursements to states.

The question is how to fund federal surface transportation projects going forward. The Highway Trust Fund pays for surface transportation projects and receives approximately $34 billion in funding annually through the gas tax. The federal government spends about $50 billion on surface transportation each year, however, necessitating frequent supplemental funding.

There is no clear path forward to increase Highway Trust Fund revenue, with some in Congress advocating such actions as temporarily changing corporate tax law to encourage companies to return overseas revenue to the United States, and others advocating an increase in the federal gas tax.

In his budget proposal, President Barack Obama put forth a six-year transportation funding bill called the Grow America Act, which includes $317 billion for highway programs and almost doubles the overall transportation spending of the current law. This bill would represent the first increase in federal highway spending in a decade.

If the president’s proposal is enacted, Massachusetts would receive approximately $712 million in funds, compared to $591 million if spending remains flat.

Last year, Congress did not act on a similar bill submitted by the president and instead extended MAP-21 for 10 months. There have been 32 extensions of the federal surface transportation bill in the past six years.