GOP Plans to Cave on Transportation Spending

We’ve seen this show before.  Republicans propose grand ideas to cut spending and implement free-market reforms; they speak ebulliently about their new ideas, and …they summarily scuttle them and cave to the Democrats.

Earlier this year, Republicans proposed a commendable plan to end the bipartisan pork fest of surface transportation spending.  Instead of continuing the inexorable expansion of transportation spending, House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica proposed a six-year highway bill that actually cut spending from $286 billion to $235 billion.  The bill was supposed to cap spending to the levels of its funding source; the 18.4-cent gasoline tax and the 24.4-cent tax on diesel fuel.  Additionally, this bill would have eliminated 70 duplicative projects and cut spending on mass transit.

Two weeks ago, Republicans agreed to pass an eighth stop-gap highway bill, which will lock in the excess levels of spending until next April.  They also passed the 22^nd stop-gap FAA reauthorization bill, which will continue to fund the wasteful rural pork programs until next February.

Now CQ is reporting that Republicans plan to cave on the long-term bill altogether:

Obama Makes the Case for State Control of Surface Transportation

Abolishing the federal gas tax will spawn real innovation in road construction.
Earlier today, Barack Obama decried the gridlock that has prevented Congress from passing a long-term surface transportation bill (highway bill) as unacceptable and inexcusable.  He also asserted that we must formulate a policy in which funding would be directed to those districts that need it the most, instead of politically motivated pork, such as the bridge to nowhere (which he supported in the Senate).  Well, unknowingly, Obama has made a strong case for transferring surface transportation funding, and its accompanying revenue source; the gasoline tax, back to the states.

The Highway Trust Fund was established in 1956 to fund the Interstate Highway System.  The fund, which is administered by the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration, has been purveyed by the federal gasoline tax, which now stands at 18.4 cents per gallon (24.4 for diesel fuel).  Beginning in 1983, Congress began siphoning off some of the gas tax revenue for the great liberal sacred cow; the urban mass transit system.  Today, mass transit receives $10.2 billion in annual appropriations.  Additionally, funding is misallocated for all sorts of local pork projects, such as bike paths and roadside flowers.

This inevitable cycle of federal government mission creep has led to the depletion of the Highway Trust Fund in recent years.  Much like the so-called Social Security Trust Fund, Congress is forced to fund its assortment of profligate and superfluous transportation projects with general fund revenues because gasoline tax revenues are insufficient.  In 2008, the trust fund was completely depleted, impelling Congress to replenish the fund with an additional $35 billion over the past few years.

Ray LaHood Does Not Have Blank Check to Grant Waivers for EAS Program

Earlier this month, Senate Democrats brazenly forced a two-week partial shutdown of the FAA.  They were willing to hold 4,000 employees hostage and forgo millions in revenue from airline tickets, all for the purpose of securing their inveterate pork projects.  Democrats refused to pass the House extension bill because Republicans inserted minor limits on a rural pork program, better known as Essential Air Service (EAS).  They also blocked the bill because of an anti-labor provision that never existed in this stopgap bill.

The House-passed bill had two provisions to limit EAS: 1) It established a $1,000-per-ticket subsidy cap, which affects subsidized service at three airports.  2)  The extension eliminated subsidies for service to airports that are 90 miles or less from a large or medium hub airport.  This provision affects ten locations.

Originally, Harry Reid opposed the bill because his airport in Ely, Nevada, which enjoys a $3,720 per passenger subsidy, would be cut off under the first provision.  However, two weeks later, Reid admitted that "$3,500 per passenger is a little extreme," and was ready to pass the bill by unanimous consent.  A few hours later, Reid seemed to have amnesia of his earlier statement, and continued to block the bill on behalf of his colleague, John Rockefeller.  You see, Morgantown Municipal Airport, which enjoys a $1.5 million annual subsidy, is 75 miles away from the nearest medium hub airport in Pittsburgh.  As such, it would have suffered a cut under the second provision of the bill.  Rockefeller, the post-Byrd king of pork, was having none of that.

Finally, Rockefeller and Reid agreed to pass the House bill because they discovered language in the bill that grants the Secretary of Transportation authority to waive the restriction on subsidies for those within 90 miles of larger airports.  They were clearly anticipating that Secretary Ray LaHood, who used to be a Republican, would completely vitiate the intent of the bill.

There is only one problem: LaHood does not have a blank check to grant those waivers.  Pursuant to the text of the bill, the Secretary may grant a waiver only to those airports in which "geographic characteristics of the location result in undue difficulty in accessing the nearest medium or large hub airport."