There is still division in the House Ways and Means Committee on the topic of how to fund a long-term highway bill, but the panel was able to add up enough in what amounted to a small victory. A $10.5 billion measure that would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015 was passed.
Providing financial support for the bill will be money coming from pension changes and custom fees.
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee would rather see a raise in the gas tax to pay for a long-term highway bill, and for that decision to come sooner rather than later. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the panel, rejected such a maneuver.
“Soon we’re going to find ourselves in the middle of a presidential election, and you know how much fun this issue will be when the guns go off for the race for the White House, which I suspect is going to be in November this year,” Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) said.
There is a measure being talked about in the Senate that would provide $9 billion in highway funding until after the midterm elections in November. Camp, however, quickly struck down the move, describing it as “higher taxes for more spending.”
