WASHINGTON - Nearly 40 percent of all the spending on transportation infrastructure in Maine - from roads and bridges to airports and ports - comes from the federal government. That money runs out at the end of the month, if Congress fails to act. And that has the four members of Maine's delegation concerned.
Last week the House passed a short-term bill to fund transportation programs through December. The Senate has yet to consider a similar bill. But some members, including independent Angus King of Maine, are calling for a long-term funding plan instead of yet another stopgap.
"I think that short-term fix is something like the 34th," King says. "It's getting kind of ridiculous to do this just for several months."
The transportation funding problem is well known in Capitol Hill: As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and burn less gas, the fuel tax no longer brings in the cash needed to pay for all those roads and bridges that need repair and replacement.
Both King and Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, would like to see a multi-year funding plan. But it's been difficult for Congress to agree on how to find the additional billions of dollars needed.
Some Republicans have proposed lowering the rate of return on a federal employee retirement plan, and using the savings to fund roads and bridges. Another proposal would divert dividends that the Federal Reserve Bank pays to member banks.
Collins says she would support using the excise tax on vehicles. "One advantage of that approach is it gets to electric or hybrid vehicles who aren’t paying their fair share if the only source of funding is the gas tax. Out is the Pacific Northwest they are experimenting with the 'miles driven' approach."
Collins says she's opposed to simply raising the fuel tax to solve the funding problem, pointing out that the current 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax would have to nearly double to bring in the needed revenue.
But King does believe that the fuel tax should be part of the solution, as does 1st District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, who says it's consistent with the idea that the users of the highways should help pay for their upkeep. "This is nuts - I mean, we need money to fix roads and bridges. States need predictability in what kind of money is going to be coming to them."
But 2nd District Congressman Bruce Poliquin, a Republican, says he can’t support raising the gas tax. Poliquin acknowledges the backlog of needed road and bridge projects across the country and in Maine, and says he doesn't have the answer to the long-term problem.
But he supports President Obama’s proposal to put some money into transportation needs by restructuring tax rates on the offshore profits of large U.S. corporations. "Try to incent U.S. companies that have about $2 trillion in overseas profits for corporations they run in other countries and bring that back to America," Poliquin says.
Depending on the tax rate that is set in the legislation, that move could generate a one-time cash infusion of $100 billion. A six-year highway spending plan is projected to cost up to three times that.
While the House has already passed its short-term measure, the Senate has a higher threshold, with 60 votes needed to take up any such proposals. So Collins and King acknowledge that the Senate might also - as King puts it - "kick the can down the road yet again."
