Senate Republicans Block Effort to Clear $8 Billion Transfer to Highway Fund By Colby Itkowitz, CQ Staff

Despite a plea from the administration, Senate Republicans on Monday blocked efforts to clear House-passed legislation that would transfer $8 billion from the general fund into the nearly depleted Highway Trust Fund.

Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, acting for himself and fellow Republican Jim DeMint of South Carolina, objected to a move by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D‑Nev., to pass the bill (HR 6532) and send it to the White House.

Gregg said he does not want to see funds from the general Treasury used to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which is normally financed by federal gasoline tax revenues. He called the idea “a really terrible precedent.”

When the House passed the bill July 23, the White House issued a veto threat, calling it a “gimmick and a dangerous precedent that shifts costs from users to taxpayers at large.” The administration suggested instead borrowing $3.2 billion from the trust fund’s mass transit account, a step Gregg said was preferable.

But in the weeks since then, gasoline tax revenues, which support the trust fund, have declined sharply as motorists cut back on their driving in the face of soaring prices at the pump.

In a surprise announcement Sept. 5, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said that the trust fund would be broke by Oct. 1. She called on Congress to pass the bill that the White House had earlier opposed.

Reid said Monday that he had spoken with Peters over the weekend and that Senate Democrats were prepared to act swiftly on her request.

“We’re willing to pass it today,” Reid said. “I would hope that we could get our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to get unanimous consent to do that.”

But DeMint, like Gregg, said he wanted to offer amendments to the bill — a move that could slow the measure’s progress.

Reid said he would try again Tuesday to get the bill cleared.