House Dems slam ‘outrageous’ Senate highway offsets

House Democrats criticized Republicans in the Senate Thursday for offering a set of “outrageous” payment methods for an extension of federal highway funding that is currently set to expire at the end of the month. 

“The McConnell bill, although called the five- or six-year bill, really isn’t going to be paid for in the way in which that is proposed,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), vice-chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. 

{mosads}”There are a number of those pay-fors that are simply outrageous, not the least of which is a $4,000 fee on a $200,000 home,” Crowley continued. “That simply won’t stand, not in my caucus, I don’t think in the Democratic Caucus in the Senate [either].”

Crowley was referring to a provision in the Senate bill that would generate $1.9 billion for roads by extending guarantees on mortgage-backed securities that had been scheduled to decline in 2021. The guarantee fees, which are charged by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, protect against potential losses from loan defaults.

Democrats say extending the fees will result in people paying more for their mortgages.

The opposition from Democrats comes as GOP leaders are scrambling to beat the July 31 deadline for renewing federal funding for road and transit projects.

The Senate’s version of the highway measure includes an approximately $47 billion package of offsets to supplement revenue from the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax, which has not been increased since 1993 and has lagged behind transportation expenses for years. 

The Senate package relies largely on revenue from reducing interest rates paid by the Federal Reserve to large banks, selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, used to prevent energy crises, and directing fees from the Transportation Security Administration and customs processing. 

Democrats said Republicans are trying to avoid the reality that the gas tax needs to be increased to help pay for roads. 

“In my 22-plus years here in Congress, I’ve never seen a situation where there’s been so much political angst about doing what we need to do to get people to pay for their use of our roads and highways and mass transit systems,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

“Most Americans understand you want to get to work on time, you need to pay for the road to work,” Becerra continued. “You need a pothole filled, you’re going to have to pay for it. Ultimately, it’s whether it’s the federal government, state or local government. It’s going to get done and we’ve got to pay for it. Most people are willing to pay a user fee to use our highways, our mass transit systems, and the politicians should stop playing with this and just get it done.” 

Republicans have resisted efforts to increase the gas tax, arguing that drivers should not be asked to pay more at the pump to help fund road projects. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) touted the fact that his chamber’s highway bill does not increase the gas tax as a virtue on Thursday. 

“This bipartisan bill would fund our roads, highways and bridges for longer than any transportation bill considered by Congress in a decade,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. “And the highway proposal will do so without increasing taxes or adding to the deficit, and that’s no small achievement.” 

Democrats in the House countered that increasing the gas tax would be a better solution to the transportation funding problem than the package of funding options offered by Republicans in the Senate. 

“I think of the five or six or seven proposals, all but one was unacceptable,” Crowley said. “The only one that was acceptable, I think, was the one that for absconding felons, that they shouldn’t receive Social Security. I think that’s something maybe Democrats and Republicans would agree upon. Other than that, there was nothing in the proposal that we saw fitting.” 

— Updated at 5:46 p.m.