The Senate put the heat on the Obama administration to take a more active role when it comes to highway funding during an 80-minute session on infrastructure on Nov. 18.
However, the U.S. DOT’s undersecretary for policy, Roy Kienitz, did not indicate that the White House was ready to desert its call for an 18-month extension of SAFETEA-LU in favor of a six-month extension.
Right now states are more concerned about the cancellation of $8.7 billion in contracting authority, which is forcing a 30% cut in local spending power.
“It’s pretty important when we see that we are giving the states 30% less than they should be getting,” Senate Environment Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told Kienitz and other members of the U.S. DOT.
Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari also did little in terms of shedding light on the finance crisis, saying the Obama administration still supports the 18-month extension. However, Porcari did add that a six-month version was better than the current 30-day extensions.
Boxer did ask the White House to look for ways to finance the next six-year highway bill other than raising the gas tax, which has stood at 18.3 cents a gallon since 1993.
The White House came out in February and opposed a mileage-based tax, but during the infrastructure meeting Kienitz did say the administration was working hard on finding an alternative funding mechanism. However, he refused to go into any details.