House Approves $8-Billion Highway Trust Fund 'Fix'
By a strong margin, the House has approved legislation that would avert a projected deficit in the Highway Trust Fund by shifting $8 billion to the fund from the general Treasury. The measure was approved July 23 on a 387-37 vote, a margin that's well above two-thirds needed to override a threatened presidential veto.
The next move is up to the Senate. That chamber's Appropriations Committee approved an $8-billion transfer to the trust fund in a fiscal 2009 transportation spending bill it cleared July 10. But the full Senate isn't expected to act on the transportation spending bill, or many of the other 2009 appropriations measures any time soon.
The Bush administration had estimated early this year that the trust fund's highway account would show a $3.2-billion deficit in fiscal 2009, which begins Oct. 1 of this year. Updated projections from the Treasury Dept. are expected during the week of July 28. With vehicle traffic down because of high gasoline prices, it is expected that the new numbers will show an even larger shortfall in the trust fund.