As a Highway Trust Fund shortfall looms within weeks, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has proposed a remedy. Baucus introduced a bill on July 20 to inject $26.8 billion of new revenue into the trust fund. Of that total, $22 billion would go to the fund’s highway account and $4.8 billion to its transit account.
Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said the highway account needs a $20-billion infusion over the next 18 months, or DOT would have to slow reimbursements to states for highway-construction spending commitments they incur. LaHood has said the gap will start to appear in August.