In a process familiar to any troubled sub prime borrower, the current federal highway reauthorization bill spends more money than it takes in. Historically, any excess spending is paid through the Federal Highway Trust Fund and has always been exclusively funded through the gas tax. However, in an unprecedented action, the House overwhelmingly passed HR 6532, a bill that would transfer over $8 billion in general revenue to the highway trust fund, adding directly to the federal deficit. The Senate is set to take up the proposal as part of …
What do the Bridge to Nowhere, the highway bill, the “subsidies for millionaires” farm bill and our crippling entitlement crisis have in common? They are all examples of the corrupt governance that is guaranteed to happen when the federal government takes over responsibilities best left to the states. In each of these cases (transportation funding, agriculture policy and health care), massive federal government spending and aid to states in the form of matching grants have all but drowned out the ability of state and local governments to set their own …
