Highway Trust Fund News

Marine Highways Gain Traction in the Intermodal Supply Chain.In the United States, landside infrastructure is at a crisis point. Congestion at the big hub ports, exacerbated by imperfect intermodal interfaces with surface transport serving cargo hinterlands is at the heart of the matter. As politicians bicker over a possible infrastructure package, the Highway Trust Fund, funded by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, has continued its downward journey towards further deficits (now $144 billion). And, where countless U.S.

In a July 10, 2014 opinion article headlined, "Congress must move on the Highway Trust Fund," Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman outlined the risks to U.S. competitiveness if Washington's leaders can't fix short and long term infrastructure funding issues. Doug Oberhelman joined other business leaders and Vice President Joe Biden at a meeting held by the White House Business Council at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 9. At the meeting, Doug spoke as part of a panel with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx to urge policymakers to pass legislation before money runs out of the Highway Trust Fund and MAP-21 authorization expires. "American companies implement just-in-time inventory and on-demand supply chains.

Welcoming the proposal, the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) says it applauds the Administration’s vision for improving the multimodal freight network to support American businesses and national competitiveness in the world marketplace. CAGTC inform that President Obama has unveiled an outline for his Administration’s first-ever surface transportation authorization proposal totaling $302 billion over four years and using a combination of highway trust fund revenues and corporate tax reform proceeds to pay for it.

You are not alone if you are bewildered by the talk in Washington about “sequester,” “continuing resolution”, “fiscal cliff,” “budget resolutions,” and “debt ceilings.”  Even those of us who think we understand what’s going on have trouble keeping up. This article will break down the talk into segments on the continuing resolution that funds the government for the rest of this fiscal year: the House and Senate budget resolutions, the upcoming debt ceiling fight; and, finally, the President’s budget request for FY2014. The focus is on maritime, transportation and energy programs.

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released the statement of Representative James Oberstar (D-MN) before the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Committee on Ways and Means. In his statement, Representative Oberstar, who chairs the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, proposes various financing options for the Highway Trust Fund. Among the options is a proposal to raise the excise tax by $1 per barrel on crude oil and refined gasoline and diesel. Also proposed is a fee of $10 on every twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container moving through a US port. There is also a proposal for a freight waybill tax (sales tax) of 0.1% on freight shipping costs. The excise tax proposal would raise an estimated $24 billion over six years.

The Port of Pittsburgh Commission Executive Director, James R. McCarville, praised the announcement from Senators Specter and Casey that additional funding was included for the locks and dams in the Port of Pittsburgh District. These funds included $25m for rehabilitation of the Emsworth Dam; $21.4m for maintenance on the Ohio River; $16.8m for maintenance on the Mon; and $9m for maintenance on the Allegheny River and $1.75 for the important study of the navigation needs of the Upper Ohio River at Emsworth, Dashields and Montgomery, all in southwestern Pennsylvania. Not as sufficient, however, was the $6.2m for the rehabilitation of Locks and Dams 2-3-4 on the Lower Monongahela river, near Pittsburgh.

Congress gave final approval of legislation to aid New York City in coping with the damages and economic dislocations caused by the terrorist strikes. The price tag for the total package exceeds $11 billion. Included is $100 million for "critical expansion of interstate ferry services necessitated by the attacks of September 11." The money is derived from the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which is supported by federal excise taxes on gasoline and other fuels. More than 67,000 commuters per day used to ride the PATH transit system below the Hudson River from New Jersey to the World Trade Center; the PATH network is now out of commission. Congress intends that expanded ferry services will help "take up the slack" for the years until restoration of the PATH system is complete

In a bipartisan vote, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee amended the Homeland Security Agency proposal to protect the Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency from being absorbed into the proposed new agency. The bipartisan amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (H.R. 5005) was approved by a voice vote. - U.S. Rep. - U.S. Rep. “There is no doubt that after the events of September 11, the President must be given the resources to protect this country from all attacks, whether terrorist or otherwise,” Young said during the markup. “I want to make it clear that I do not object to the creation of a Department of Homeland Security. However, the bill as introduced raises many concerns which this Congress has a responsibility to address.

This is a year to get things done in Washington. After a relatively unproductive congressional session last year and a slow start to the 106th Congress due to the focus on impeachment, the congressional leadership is promising an active year focused on "the people's business." That activism is good news for America's tugboat, towboat and barge industry, as there are two items - the deficit reduction tax and the use of strict criminal liability statutes - that ought to be addressed by this Congress. First, while the budget surplus debate considers options ranging from saving social security to paying down the national debt, we're told that public opinion polls do not generally favor spending the surplus in the form of a tax cut.

The fresh fruits and vegetables on your family table may be from the farms of Portugal, having made the six-day trip across the ocean in refrigerated containerships from Lisbon to the States. And nearly 2,000 passengers recently steamed into Venice aboard the Grand Princess, which, running the length of two and a half football fields, is the largest cruise ship in the world. About 90 percent of its passengers that day, as is the case every day on most cruise ships, were Americans. In Pennsylvania, hundreds of our products - among them Cannondale bikes, Cove shoes, JLG lifts, Freedom Forge Wheels, Letterkenny ammunition, and Empire chickens - travel by rail or truck to our ocean ports for shipment across the oceans of the world.