Editorial: Why Welch is right about roads

Today, with a second-rate rail system, highways are the lifeblood of the American economy. Big roads carry goods and services, commuters, travelers, vacationers, tourists. Good roads are essential, a sign that we are thriving.

You’d never know that from how we run them. You build big roads and bridges, you need to take care of them. The national Highway Trust Fund pays to maintain the highways, with help from state funding. The fund initially was filled entirely with fuel-tax revenues, but over time the fund was tapped to pay for other transportation initiatives — such as mass transportation and bikeways — and, with more efficient cars these days, the fuel-tax revenues have fallen short of spending needs. Mass transportation and cycling were included because they reduced traffic congestion and pollution, among other benefits. So, most agreed to meet the shortfall with general-fund revenues.

Now comes the 2014 Tea Party, funded by the Koch brothers, who never miss an opportunity to grandstand, bully and obstruct, all with the objective of crippling government. With the federal budget year ending in September, the highway fund is out of money, as it has been frequently at this time of year; the fund needs a huge injection of cash to get to the finish line.

The most “conservative” members of Congress initially said “no.” No to the highway fund because, they said, it is clearly broken. Let the roads and bridges go until fuel taxes are slashed to virtually nothing, the fund killed and the responsibility for repairs is put entirely into the hands of state and local governments.

Their arguments are so specious it’s hard to know where to start to rebut them. The only way to pay for highway repairs is through taxes, whether levied by the feds or the states, and the suggestion to cut taxes is simply political demagoguery. Furthermore, state and local governments already drive the decisions on major road repairs; the feds just follow local leads with funding.

The fact is the highway funding system has worked fine for years. The trouble at this moment is that our roads and bridges are at a historic low point of decay and need an unusually large investment. The Obama administration and the vast majority in Congress know this, but Republicans are so scared of the extremists inside and outside their party that they are unwilling to show any real leadership on this issue.

Thankfully, most Americans are willing to invest in our highways and bridges and, speaking at a press conference under a crumbling I-89 underpass, Vermont Rep. Peter Welch called for a hike in fuel taxes.

The increase is endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor and industry leaders, all of whom have implored Congress to approve a long-term highway maintenance measure.

“For once, let’s do what’s right, not what’s politically expedient,” Chamber President Tom Donohue told the Senate earlier this year.

“The American business community is saying we don’t see this as a tax,” Donohue said of increasing the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gasoline tax and the 24.4-cent diesel tax. “This is a user fee. Shippers are for it. Truckers are for it. The construction industry is for it. Labor is for it, and the chamber is for it. If Congress were serious about ensuring money goes to the most essential projects, many motorists would be for it, too.”

Donohue is asking for leadership. He won’t get it. Congress has dodged, cooking up a tax gimmick to fund highway work into 2015, when the apocalyptic grandstanding will begin again.