Government

Highways: States Oppose Looming $8.7-Billion Cut

State transportation officials are hoping Congress will cancel an $8.7-billion rescission of unobligated highway funds that is due to occur on Sept. 30. The Federal Highway Administration notified states on Aug. 25 how large a cut each would incur. California would lose the largest sum, $794 million.

In the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users, Congress mandated the rescission to take effect on the measure’s last day, Sept. 30, as a way of trimming the legislation’s overall price tag.

Key Senate lawmakers already have indicated they support undoing the highway-fund reduction. But when Congress returns from its August break on Sept. 8, it will have only three weeks to act on the rescission.

Pam Hunter McFarland was a Senior Editor of ENR and her expertise was: Sourcebooks, Environment, Labor

As ENR's former Washington Bureau Chief, Tom Ichniowski wrote about the federal government since the George H.W. Bush administration, and covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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