CBO: Transportation funding needs $100 billion transfusion

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: CBO: Transportation funding needs $100 billion transfusion

The debate among transportation wonks over how to fashion and pay for a long-term federal transportation bill roiled on in Washington this week, as a new number was injected into the picture: $100 billion.

That's how much the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will have to be generated by additional taxes or transferred from the general fund if lawmakers achieve their expressed desire to craft a six-year transportation bill. That figure would allow funding to continue at current levels, an amount that experts acknowledge is woefully short of what's needed to reverse decay in the nation's infrastructure.

The budget office said the Highway Trust Fund, the traditional source for transportation funding, "will have insufficient revenues to meet obligations starting in fiscal year 2015."  It cautioned, however, that the fund could be exhausted before next year. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said it could start "bouncing checks"  as early as August.