Page 13 - ATR 1 2012 web 2

News iN brief, billion, 4-and-a-half-year bill, even eral gas tax. The most recent short term
Continued from page 10 though nobody really knows how it will funding extension (borrowing from
be funded. general revenues) expires March 31,
ExpENSES EaTINg Up HIgHEr The U.S. Senate and House will and some lawmakers say they won't go
raTES likely pass their respective versions of a along with another Band-Aid fix.
Despite a tight supply of trucks highway and transportation bill, includ- A new Congressional Budget
to haul freight, many trucking com- ing trucking safety measures, and send Office forecast estimates the govern-
panies report their inability to get rate the bills to a conference committee this ment will have to delay payments to
increases from shippers, according to spring. There, the conferees will negoti- states beginning sometime in the 2013
the transport advisory firm Transport ate the two bills into one and send it federal budget year, which could force
Capital Partners (TCP). A recent survey back to each legislative branch for an up some projects to shut down construc-
of trucking companies revealed that or down vote sometime this year. tion projects already underway.
three-quarters of carriers plan to add That’s the good news. The bad news Mica called the House bill "the
between 0 and 5 percent capacity for is Congress has not been able to figure most dramatic overhaul and reform to
the foreseeable future. out how to finance a long-term trans- (transportation) programs since the
This comes after a near 20-percent portation bill in several years, prefer- beginning of the interstate system" five
reduction in fleet capacity during the ring instead to simply borrow from the decades ago. Among other things, the
recession. "Carriers tell us that rates general treasury and deposit the money bill would consolidate more than 100
are not covering investment risks or in the Highway Trust Fund. This ‘deficit programs into about 30, and take away
covering the cost of the record prices of spending’ strategy is simply driving up much of the federal government's lever-
new trucks," said Richard Mikes, a TCP the national debt. age over how states spend highway and
Partner and survey co-coordinator. Yet nobody in Congress can muster transit aid.
the political will to ask Americans to Congressman Tim Griffin (R-Ark.)
HIgHway BIll MovINg – dig for a couple more pennies per gallon called the House legislation “the most
wITHoUT fUNDINg to invest in the nation’s infrastructure. significant transportation reform bill
Saying that watching his com- “The nation’s infrastructure is since our interstate system was cre-
mittee hammer through an 800 page not like fine wine,” commented James ated in 1956” saying it “streamlines the
transportation bill was like “being a Welch, the CEO of YRC Worldwide to federal bureaucracy by eliminating 70
referee in a big food fight,” Rep. John Transport Topics recently. “It’s not get- programs, strikes spending mandates
Mica (R-Fla.) applauded the final result ting better with age.” and cuts project review time in half.”
his committee sent to the floor of the Yet, nobody will propose an Griffin particularly likes that Arkansas
U.S. House of Representatives – a $260 increase, even a small one, in the fed- should get a boost in the percentage of
money it gets back from the fuel taxes
paid.
Mica defended his bill as taking a
large step toward many changes con-
servatives have sought. The Senate bill,
he said in an interview, is a "disaster"
because it only lasts two years and
leaves the highway program broke at the
end of that time.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), co-
author of the companion but different
Senate bill, said she was disappointed
Mica didn't "reach out to Democrats"
when writing his bill, but she remains
hopeful that Congress can pass a final
bill before the end of March.

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arkansas truCking rePort | issue 1 2012 13