The House Subcommittee on highways and transit held a hearing on April 29 to address long-term solution for the Highway Trust Fund revenue shortfall. The HTF has faced an insolvency crisis dating back to at least 2008, as current user fees are no longer sufficient to sustain necessary investment in our surface infrastructure needs. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) failed to address this issue and only made matters worse by increasing spending $102 billion and relying on a general fund transfer of $118 billion in support. The subcommittee chairman said Republicans support investing in infrastructure, but our highway funding system is founded upon the principle that roadway users must pay for their use of the system. Failing to restructure our surface transportation funding sources will have severe consequences for our nation’s transportation system and the American people. He said, as part of reconciliation, the Committee will vote on a proposal to leverage existing state vehicle registration systems and assess a new fee of $200 on electric vehicles (EVs), $100 on hybrid vehicles, and a $20 fee on most other passenger vehicles. If approved, these new user fees would represent the first new funding streams into the Highway Trust Fund in more than 30 years.
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