Thank you for contacting me regarding the need to immediately replenish the Highway

Trust Fund (HTF) to prevent cuts to California infrastructure projects. Transportation is a vital

economic driver; for every $1 billion invested in highways 27,823 jobs are created. Current

federal funding spending levels for highways, safety and transit equates to $51 billion, which

creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

As you may know, federal transportation programs are funded mainly through taxes on

motor vehicle fuels that are deposited in the HTF. Approximately 90% of the HTF funding

comes from gasoline and diesel fuel taxes. The tax rates are fixed in terms of cents per gallon

and have not increased since 1993. Until 2008, this was not a problem as annual increases in

driving and fuel use were sufficient to keep revenues rising steadily. However, since 2008 the

HTF has run a deficit which will reach $18 billion by 2015.

Congress has attempted to address this issue through a number of extensions, but has

been unable to determine how best to fix the situation. In 2012, Congress passed MAP-21 that

supplemented fuel tax revenues with funds from the U.S. Treasury general fund. This

reauthorization act provided funding through September 30, 2014; however this is not a long

term solution. Most recently, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released its

MAP-21 Reauthorization proposal, which was unanimously approved and would keep current

funding levels, including inflation, for six years. President Obama presented another proposal,

the GROW AMERICA Act, which would increase infrastructure investments by tens of billions

of dollars over a 4 year period. The House Republican Leadership also floated their idea, which

would end Saturday mail delivery to replenish the Highway Trust Fund. Absent a consensus on

long term funding, both the House and Senate passed a short term funding bill that would

authorize highway and transit programs through May 2015.

Thank you for contacting me on this important matter and please feel free to do so in the

future. In addition, if you want to learn more about my work in Congress, please feel free to Like

me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter @RepSamFarr.