Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
2009 Transportation Bill

Obama Ally Breaks With White House on Timing of New Transport Bill

11:14 AM EDT on October 13, 2009

Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber of Congress and a close ally of the president, broke with the White House yesterday and called for a new long-term transportation bill to pass by early next year -- not after the Obama administration's preferred 18-month delay.

125173_004_0489F080.jpgIllinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D), at right of President Obama, who was then the state's junior senator. (Photo: Brittanica)

Durbin's remarks came at the Tri-State Development Summit, a gathering of midwestern business and political leaders. The Herald Whig of Quincy, Illinois, had the story -- and took note of Durbin's candor on the need for a gas tax increase to fund the upcoming legislation:

We have to pay for it, and paying for itmay mean an increase in the federal gas tax. Nobody wants to say thosewords. I've said them to you because unless we're honest about this,we're not going to see an (adequate) federal highway bill," Durbin said ...

Durbin told reporters that a consensus must be reached betweenbusiness, labor and community leaders to support a fuel tax increase"to stimulate new job creation in America."

The transportation plan was set to expire Oct. 1, but it has gottena one-month extension at the current funding level. HouseTransportation Chairman U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., wants tonearly double the size to $500 billion to catch up on crumblinginfrastructure, but White House officials have suggested they want todelay work on the bill for 18 months.

Durbin said he wants to see Congress pass the bill by early next year.

Could Durbin's acknowledgment of the tough choices ahead help push the administration to accept a shorter postponement of the next transportation bill -- say, 6 months or a year, as Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) has suggested? The answer may well depend on how the White House responds to pressure from Republicans, as well as some Democrats, to enact more economic recovery legislation in the wake of continued job losses.

If a second shot of stimulus finds favor, it's more likely to come in the form of extra infrastructure spending than as another large, stand-alone bill. Of course, there's no guarantee that such extra spending would be balanced between transit and highways, especially considering the lopsided affair that was the first stimulus.

But Durbin's talk of a gas tax increase obscures an even more uncomfortable truth: a simple hike in the per-gallon levy is probably not enough to sufficiently fund the next transport bill, given that Americans are driving less in more fuel-efficient vehicles.

A study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) [PDF] found that a 10-cent increase in the gas tax, coupled with indexing it to inflation, could be expected to raise $90.5 billion over the next five years. Coupled with an estimated $255 billion that is expected to come from the existing gas tax, that leaves a gap of $105.5 billion between available financing and House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar's (D-MN) new proposal.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Why We Care About Some Transportation Tragedies More Than Others

Why do we respond to major transportation disasters with so much urgency — and why don't we count our collective car crash epidemic among them?

March 28, 2024

The Toll of History: MTA Board Approves $15 Congestion Pricing Fee

New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.

March 28, 2024

Take Thursday’s Headlines Home, Country Roads

Heat Map reports on why rural Americans are resisting electric vehicles, and why it might not matter much for the climate.

March 28, 2024

Guest Commentary: Traffic Engineers Must Put Safety Over Driver Throughput

No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken.

March 27, 2024

Wednesday’s Headlines Missed Connection

The Biden administration is spending billions to reconnect neighborhoods torn apart by urban freeways. But the projects seem to simply paper over the problem, Governing reports.

March 27, 2024
See all posts