Budget battle

Concerns about the Highway Trust Fund are driving budget revisions in the the Bush administration's $2.9 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget proposal. This federal spending plan includes mixed results for the $65 billion the measure recommends for the programs administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to ARTBA. Specifically, the budget recommends record investment for a number of federal transportation programs, including the highway and transit programs. Unfortunately, the budget plan fails to adhere to the surface transportation program investments guaranteed by SAFETEA-LU. The Administration is proposing $39.585 billion for the core federal highway program—a $500 million increase over projected FY 2007 investment—based on reports that Highway Trust Fund revenues have exceeded projections by $631 million. Unfortunately, the administration is proposing to cancel the $631 million upward adjustment of FY 2008 highway investment these additional revenues require under SAFETEA-LU's funding guarantees due to concerns about the trust fund's solvency. This proposal would represent the first explicit violation of the Highway Trust Fund's investment guarantees since they were enacted in 1998. The measure also calls for increasing federal transit investment by $450 million to $9.4 billion. This amount, however, is $300 million below the FY 2008 funding level required by SAFETEA-LU and also would be a major break from the transportation funding guarantees. The Administration's budget also recommends a $765 million, or 22 percent, reduction in federal airport construction investment from the current level of $3.52 billion to $2.75 billion in FY 2008. Let the budget battle begin. Your comment?