Legislative Background
Recent Action on Public Infrastructure
Responsibility for the Nation’s infrastructure is currently spread across Federal, State, and local governments. In 2007, most of the Federal Government’s $73 billion infrastructure budget was spent on the construction and major rehabilitation of specific types of infrastructure — the Federal-Aid Highway Program, the Airport Improvement Program, the Transit Formula and Bus Grant Program, and the Army Corps of Engineers’ water resource programs, among others. The principal mechanism for funding highway and transit programs is the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which is funded through excise taxes paid by highway users, including taxes on motor fuels. The most recent legislation reauthorizing…
