The House Budget Committee completed action on a proposed FY 2013 budget resolution, introduced earlier in the week by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). The proposal would reduce federal transportation funding investment from $88.6 billion in FY 2012 to $57.1 billion in FY 2013, a reduction of $31.5 billion (36 percent). The resolution does not identify the specific categories of transportation cuts. However, the proposal provides for a “reserve fund” that would allow transportation spending to increase if Congress enacts a measure that, “maintains the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, but only if such measure would not increase the deficit over the period of fiscal years 2013 through 2022.”
By allowing for the “reserve fund” to increase transportation funding if revenue is raised, this year’s budget resolution is more flexible than last year’s resolution which limited funding from the Highway Trust Fund to levels that could be supported by the revenue coming into the fund. In addition, the FY 2012 House budget resolution specifically said the federal motor fuels tax would not be increased and transfers from the general fund into the Highway Trust Fund were prohibited. The net result of that language would have required a 30-35 percent cut in future highway and transit funding.
For more information, please contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 ordeeryb@agc.org.
- Industry Priorities
- Education
- News
- Connect
- Benefits
- Events
- Shop