On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that funding for federal transportation projects is at a dangerous level, threatening current obligations starting later this summer and forcing transportation officials to delay needed repairs and shelve long-planned expansion projects. 

Washington Post Reporter Ashley Halsey wrote:

A bipartisan Senate proposal emerged Wednesday to rescue federal transportation funding by raising the tax on gasoline by 12 cents a gallon. The proposal to hike the 18.4-cent federal tax for the first time since 1993 came from Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and won quick endorsement from an array of advocates ranging from road builders to AAA. In addition to increasing the tax by 6 cents in each of the next two years, the senators want the rate indexed to inflation. Failure to keep pace with inflation over the past 20 years, along with steadily increasing fuel economy, has caused the Federal Highway Trust Fund that receives the money to sink to a dangerous level. The Transportation Department projected this week that by midsummer, the fund will no longer be able to meet its obligations. The Obama administration, citing a fragile economic recovery, has been reluctant to endorse a gas-tax increase. Members of Congress facing midterm elections have preferred to look to other sources. “For too long, Congress has shied away from taking serious action to update our country’s aging infrastructure,” Murphy said. “We’re currently facing a transportation crisis that will only get worse if we don’t take bold action to fund the Highway Trust Fund. Raising the gas tax isn’t an easy choice, but we’re not elected to make easy decisions.”

For more information, please visit the original Washington Post story here.

And stay tuned for more from NARFA, or contact us today. We’ll be keeping an eye on this proposal as we continue to move through the summer months.

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