Below is the latest from Randal O'Toole about Obama's transportation bill. For more details and other transportation news see this link. THE FEDS WANT TO TAKE YOUR CAR! May 10, 2011 Randal O'Toole's transportation newsletter OBAMA'S REAUTHORIZATION BILL IS DOA Recently, the Obama administration leaked an "early working draft" of a proposed surface transportation reauthorization bill. The last time Congress reauthorized federal transportation spending, it dedicated about $53 billion for transit, some $40 billion in "flexible funds" that could spent on either transit or highways, and about $200 billion for highways (not all of which was actually spent on highways). Obama's 498-page proposal calls for spending $250 billion on highways, $120 billion on transit, $53 billion on high-speed rail, $27 billion on "livability" (projects like bike paths, streetcars, and subsidies to high-density development), and $25 billion on an infrastructure bank (i.e., a slush fund the administration can use to reward favored political interests). In short, highways get a little more, but non-highway programs get a lot more. The total, $480 billion, is twice as much money as the federal government is likely to collect in gas taxes and other fees that fund surface transportation programs. To make up the difference, the bill mentions a "new energy tax," but provides no details about how that tax would work. However, it is likely that the administration intended that auto drivers would continue to subsidize transit users and begin subsidizing intercity rail riders; in other words, the "energy tax" would effectively double the current 18.4-cent federal gas tax. The good news is that the bill is widely considered to be dead on arrival. As one liberal blogger wrote, "By refusing to adjust to a still-struggling economy, high gas prices, and a deficit-obsessed Congress, the president has rendered his own plan moot."
by Dr. Michael Sanera
Director of Research and Local Government Studies