Calvert advances transportation proposal

By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau

Seeking to help push a $500 billion transportation bill out of congressional gridlock, Inland Rep. Ken Calvert on Thursday pressed a plan to help fund the landmark legislation by charging fees on goods shipped in and out of U.S. ports.

The bill is meant to guide the federal transportation strategy over the next six years. Proponents in the House say quick passage is needed to create new jobs while overhauling the nation's aging system of roads and rails. But the Senate is moving forward with a White House proposal to postpone consideration of the bill because of concerns over how to pay for it.

Calvert, R-Corona, said his plan would generate tens of billions of dollars over the life of the proposed transportation bill. Initial estimates were as high as $72 billion over the next five years, though that figure was calculated before the recession, he said. In the current economy, the amount likely would be less.

Part of the money -- potentially hundreds of millions of dollars -- would go directly to Inland bridges, roads and rails that need repair because of the constant onslaught of freight movement through the area.

"My congressional district is more than 50 miles from the ports of LA and Long Beach, yet my constituents see and feel the impact of trade and the goods movement it brings every single day," Calvert told a congressional panel. "Gateway communities all over the nation are experiencing increased burdens on infrastructure surrounding air, land and seaports."

Calvert's plan, which he first introduced as a standalone bill in the last Congress, was among a handful of ideas put forth by lawmakers at the hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee.

The panel is responsible for devising a long-term funding plan for legislation to rebuild the nation's highways and railways while steering the country toward increased public transit and decreased dependence on foreign oil.

The legislation would provide more than $337 billion for repairs and construction on highways and bridges, nearly $100 billion for public bus and train systems and an unprecedented $50 billion for 11 high-speed rail systems to link major metropolitan regions around the country.

Extension debated

The Obama administration has proposed an 18-month extension of the current transportation bill, which is scheduled to expire at the end of September, to give Congress time to craft a funding plan. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who runs the Senate committee that oversees transportation, supports the extension and is moving to enact it.

The extension would be coupled with an injection of $20 billion into the depleted federal Highway Trust Fund to keep work going in the short term.

Boxer has said she favors the proposed transportation legislation in principal but has concerns about how to pay for it.

Lawmakers in the House are intent on moving forward with their bill. House Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., said an extension of the existing bill at current funding levels would be a disservice to the American public, which is desperate for new jobs and sick of being stuck in traffic.

"You can't ask people to continue paying for a system that isn't working," Oberstar said. "We're recreating the system, recreating transportation to move people and goods in our society more effectively."

Instead of an 18-month extension, Oberstar favors a transfer of $3 billion to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent while lawmakers find long-term funding for the bill now before Congress.

The nation's 18.4 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax and other current funds would cover more than half the spending outlined in the bill, Oberstar said. The remainder, about $140.5 billion, could be funded through a combination of proposals laid out at Thursday's hearing.

Calvert plan embraced

The government could raise as much as $60 billion by issuing treasury bonds and could generate additional funds by increasing taxes on crude oil, imported gasoline and diesel, Oberstar and other lawmakers testified at the hearing.

Oberstar and Rep. Pete DeFazio, D-Ore., both lauded Calvert's plan.

The plan involves imposing a fee according to the value of each shipment moving through the nation's ports. The fee would amount to 0.075 percent of the value of a shipment and could not exceed $500.

Economists have said the fees would likely be passed along to consumers but would amount to only tiny increases in the cost of shipped products.

All of the money generated by the shipping fee would go to transportation projects within 300 miles of the port where the fees are collected -- roughly the distance from Long Beach to Las Vegas. Local and state governments would get a say on which projects receive priority, but they would have to cover 20 percent of the cost.

Calvert said he is encouraged by the support and agreed that the bill should be moved forward as quickly as possible.

"We've got great infrastructure needs," Calvert said of the Inland area. "The transportation bill can act as a stimulus if we move it forward because it'll put people to work and you'll get something out of it."

Reach Ben Goad at 202-661-8422 or bgoad@PE.com