Taxpayers for Common Sense today released the following in reaction to the House’s most recent transportation bill:

The House today released a unified version of its transportation bill, bringing together the disparate pieces from all committees of jurisdiction. The House proposal reflects a lack of seriousness in finding sustainable, user-based funding to pay for the nation’s transportation priorities.

The House bill contains the following new revenues sources:

1. Revenues from royalties collected as a result of off-shore drilling, drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, and development of oil shale. Congressional Budget Office estimates royalties from these sources will total a scant $2 billion over the duration of the House bill, a tiny portion of the tens of billions of dollars the House will spend above gas tax revenues.
2. Modifies the federal employee pension system, and commits a share of the savings to transportation. According to Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), the nation’s pension liabilities now total $681.7 billion. Any savings from pension reform should be used to reduce that overall liability.

A responsible transportation policy should rely on revenues collected from user fees. If Congress is unwilling to raise additional revenues in this manner, then spending must be cut. Using revenues unrelated to transportation undercuts the user-pays principle that our transportation system is based upon and fails to ensure the long-term viability of the nation’s transportation program.