The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed legislation to put $8 billion into the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is running out of money.


The House voted 376-29 for the legislation, which transfers a little more than $8 billion from the U.S. Treasury into the highway fund.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of construction projects have been put on hold as a result of Friday's announcement by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters that federal-aid payments to the states would be withheld because of a shortage of funds.

"This was predicted in 2005 by the Department of Transportation - that within five years there would be a drop-off in revenues to the Highway Trust Fund because we had not increased the user fee," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "In a steady state, and with inflation in the construction sector, it was clear in 2005 that the trust fund would encounter revenue problems."

The Bush administration's proposed solution was to cut back on spending and transfer money from the fund's Transit Account, which has a surplus. "This transfer would not harm transit spending and would not increase the deficit," the White House said.

Transportation leaders in the House, on the other hand, argued for the $8 billion transfer on grounds that it was restoration of money that had been taken from the trust fund in 1998.

For more on the highway funding situation and the debate over highway funding authorization, see the September issue of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine.