House GOPers Propose Filling Trust Fund With Stimulus Money

As their committee's leaders butted heads
with the Obama administration, a group of Republicans on the House
transportation panel proposed to fill the $7 billion hole in the
nation's highway trust fund with unobligated money from the economic stimulus law.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) (Photo: SW Broward GOP)

The
bill, offered yesterday by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and eight
co-sponsors, has almost zero chance of passing in the
Democratic-controlled Congress. But its appearance suggests that
lawmakers whose sympathies generally lie with Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN),
the House's transportation chief -- who is determined to pass a new
federal bill this year -- are likely to be diverted by the immediate
task of filling the trust fund by August.

In his endorsement
of the Diaz-Balart bill, Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL) underscored the
bipartisan appeal of Oberstar's quest for a new bill. Johnson lamented
the business in his home district that would be lost if the Obama
administration won its fight for a transportation funding patch:

Let's forget for the moment that House Republicans voted against the stimulus en masse,
which casts a dim light on their bid to take advantage of available
economic recovery cash for highways. Here's why the Diaz-Balart
proposal could have a significant political downside.

By separating the need to fill the trust fund from a broader debate over transportation reform, it undercuts the efforts of Rep. John Mica
(FL), Oberstar's GOP counterpart, to pass a long-term bill that would
tackle the nation's persistent infrastructure funding problems.

Senate
leaders already are tipping towards the Obama administration's side,
aligning with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's call for an 18-month extension of existing law and questioning whether anything can be done other than filling up the highway account.

"I do not oppose on principle the effort to improve federal transportation programs, but we cannot allow debates over these reforms to prevent us from saving the highway trust fund in a timely matter," Patty Murray (D-WA) the Senate's transportation spending chairwoman, told LaHood yesterday.

Congress
is a perennially time-crunched place, where the perception of crisis
tends to dictate legislators' priorities. The more lawmakers who define
the transportation crisis as merely the fiscal health of the highway
trust fund, the less willingness there will be to tackle the broader
issues.