WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Ranking Member of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee today called on Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to provide quickly important details on the Administration’s plan for our Nation’s transportation programs that the President’s proposed budget is lacking.

 

            “The budget we have before us for the Department lacks a lot of very important details.” Bond told Secretary LaHood. “We all know the devil is in the details, but these are BIG details with major policy implications and we are running out of time to get answers from your Department.”

 

            The Senator pointed out that the budget submitted by the Administration for the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and other surface transportation programs contains no policy recommendations. These recommendations are lacking at a time when the Federal Highway Trust Fund is going bankrupt and federal revenues are declining. The Senator suggested it might be appropriate for the President’s budget to include a footnote that says “we don’t know how to pay for highways.”

 

Bond warned that despite being on the hook for obligations through fiscal year 2010, the trust fund is expected to fall below $4 billion in July and to be completely insolvent in mid-August. If this happens, cash flows will be interrupted and reimbursements to states will be delayed.  The Senator urged Secretary LaHood and the committee to begin quickly discussing temporary solutions to meet the expected $5-$7 billion shortfall.

 

In addition to the trust fund’s looming insolvency, Bond warned highway funds are facing an $8.7 billion rescission in September. If the Administration does not deal with the pending rescission, numerous jobs across the country are in danger of being cut at a time when the President claims the stimulus bill should be creating new jobs.

 

            Details are also lacking in the Administration’s plan to spend $1 billion over the next five years for high speed rail in addition to the $8 billion that has already been committed in the stimulus bill. The Administration has done little to explain how the additional funds will be used and in what way prioritizing High Speed Rail fits into their National Rail Plan due out in October.

 

More importantly, Bond questioned the Administration’s devotion to high speed rail at a time when our Nation’s highway system is in such serious danger. The Senator repeated the recent warning from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office which said “high speed rail does not offer a quick or simple solution to relieving congestion on our nation’s highways and airways. High speed rail projects are costly, risky, take years to develop and build and require substantial up-front public investment as well as potentially long-term operating subsidies.”

 

Bond also pressed the Administration for a plan to re-adhere to the terms of NAFTA by re-opening the border to trucks carrying goods in and out of the U.S. from Mexico. Following the Administration’s decision to close the border to these trucks, Mexico placed $2.4 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. agricultural and manufactured exports. According to the Pork Producers, this has put over 12,000 agricultural and 14,000 manufacturing jobs at risk.

 

The Senator expressed confidence in the Administration’s funding requests for the Airport Improvement Program as both sufficient and realistic, but cautioned the Administration to prepare for upcoming challenges. Increased funding is needed for NextGen, a wide ranging technological transformation of the Nation’s air transportation system, a new contract is pending for air traffic controllers and costly new issues affecting aviation safety are being raised every day.

 

“The lack of realistic decision-making especially in regard to highways and rescissions is disappointing,” Bond said. “Nevertheless, the more we can work together with the various authorizing committees and the Administration in a bipartisan and open manner, the more likely we will find needed solutions. After all, transportation is something that both parties recognize as good for the future of the Nation.”

 

Bond has long been a leading voice in the U.S. Senate for transportation infrastructure in Missouri and across the Nation. Since 1987 he has fought to increase Missouri’s share of federal transportation dollars and in 2005, during the last highway authorization bill, succeeded in bringing $1.3 billion in new funds for highway improvements to Missouri.

 

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