A recent Government Accountability Office report on the Highway Trust Fund could inform lawmakers’ discussions as they continue to work toward the next surface- transportation authorization act, says House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.). The report, released on Aug. 3, found that nearly all states received more funding from the Highway Trust Fund than they contributed.

Oberstar says the report will be useful as Congress reconsiders the way it distributes highway funds to states. Drafts at the committee level have not yet determined the formulas for funding. “I have long believed that a federal surface transportation program should focus less on the ‘donor’ [vs.] ‘donee’ debate and more on the needs of a national system,” he says.