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Report finds highway bill funds not going to the right places
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10/02/12 12:58 PM ET
As much as $10 billion of the $105 billion transportation spending bill that took effect this week will end up being spent in the wrong place, a liberal group's analysis found Tuesday.
The Washington, D.C-based Center for American Progress said that the spending formulas of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) bill focused too heavily on equity among states, to the detriment of need.
"In response to the ‘bridge to nowhere,’ Congress eliminated the overt earmarks in the highway bill, but as this report shows, politics still trump the need for a large portion of this highway authorization bill,” CAP senior fellow Donna Cooper said in a statement about the report, titled "Highway Robbery."
However, the CAP report, which is based on transportation spending data from 2010, finds that "slightly more than $10 billion — out of approximately $43 billion in federal highway funds — was distributed in equity bonuses and minimum payments to states that could not demonstrate sufficient need through the traditional needs-based funding formulas."
Cooper said that leads to neglect of transportation projects in populous states.
“Without question there aren’t enough funds to go around, and our road, bridge, and transit needs are growing," she said. "That’s why its especially problematic that Congress continues to direct federal tax dollars to pay for carefully contrived set-asides intended to meet political objectives rather than the real need for infrastructure repair.
"Instead of continuing to siphon federal dollars from high-need states such as California, New York, and Pennsylvania to support low-need states such as Alaska, it’s time lawmakers dedicated each federal dollar to the country’s most pressing highway and transit needs," Cooper continued.
The full Center for American progress report on transportation spending can be read here.
