Not a pothole president

Sunday, July 27, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

One can predict with near certainty that if Congress favors bolstering a program benefiting Americans, the Iraq-centric Bush White House will come out against it.

It happened again last week after the House of Representatives approved transferring $8 billion from the general Treasury fund to the Highway Trust Fund. This fund is used to build and repair federal highways and to provide transportation money to the states.

For at least two reasons the fund’s managers desperately need the $8 billion. One, per-gallon federal fuel taxes — 18.4 cents for gasoline, 24.3 cents for diesel — have not been raised since 1993 despite inflation and escalating construction costs. Two, fewer gallons of fuel are being purchased because of more efficient vehicles and high pump prices leading drivers to conserve.

Without an infusion of money to make up for the decreased tax revenue, federal highway spending would be significantly lowered despite aging infrastructure whose safety risks increase each year that repairs are put off. Also, federal highway aid to states would be slashed at a time when many states, including Nevada, are facing deficits in their own highway budgets.

Nevertheless, the White House responded indignantly to the House vote. Using money from the general fund for highways is “both a gimmick and a dangerous precedent that shifts costs from users to taxpayers at large,” it said. The statement was disingenuous, as “taxpayers at large” depend every day on state and federal roads for delivery of everything they need and want. How would grocery stores, shopping malls, workplaces, et al., be supplied without highways?

We’re looking forward to an administration that doesn’t reflexively oppose spending just because the money would be going to work right here in our own country.