Are Deficit Hawks Being Fooled by Big Spenders into Supporting Bill to Take Transportation Spending Off-Budget?
Apparently under the impression that the U.S. government has been hoarding money raised for transportation projects by transportation taxes, and then using the surplus to mask the true size of the deficit, dozens of deficit hawks have joined more than half of Congress in sponsoring H.R. 842, the “Truth in Budgeting Act.” H.R. 842 would move the Highway, Harbor Maintenance, Airport and Airway and Inland Waterway Trust funds off-budget. But contrary to what some sponsors seem to think, it would not stop transportation trust fund surpluses from being used to mask the deficit — as there is no surplus. Since 1980, for example, the federal government has spent $14 billion more on Highway Trust Fund programs than the fund has collected. What’s more, since 1956 the federal government has spent $38 billion on highways without debiting $38 billion from the Highway Trust Fund’s account. Rumors that the Highway Trust Fund has been stockpiling transportation taxes intended for road construction ar
