Posted on 07/01/2014 12:55:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A rather exasperated President Barack Obama pressed Congress to find a solution to the looming Highway Trust Fund crisis, arguing "it's not socialism" to want to build new highways and bridges in the country. "It's not crazy. It's not socialism. It's not the imperial presidency," Obama said Tuesday afternoon during a speech in front of the Georgetown waterfront with the Key Bridge in the background. "We're just building roads and bridges, like we have for the past 50 years."
The Highway Trust Fund is a transportation and infrastructure fund financed by gasoline taxes. It is headed towards insolvency because the government now spends more money on those projects than it collects from the gas tax, which has not been raised in over 20 years.
The Obama administration has proposed a four-year, $302 billion solution to the highway crisis, which would end the trust fund's dependence on the gas tax and replenish it through tax reforms. It was a plan Obama pushed Tuesday, while blaming the fund's precarious position on Republican inaction.
"It's not like they've been busy with other stuff! No, seriously," Obama said.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are still divided on both a short-term solution to finance highway projects through the rest of the year and a long-term fix for the shortfall. Two senators introduced a bipartisan plan to incrementally raise the 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax, however there is little political appetite for such a move in an election year.
Obama repeated a warning that more than 700,000 jobs could be at risk next year if Congress does not figure out how to replenish the nearly depleted trust fund. In a letter to state officials Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx warned Tuesday the fund would run dry sometime next month,
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
How many roads and bridges were built with the last 900 billion he got?
What the Hell was the "Stimulus" for, you pathetic bastard?
Which means...it IS.
Roads and Bridges?
YOU DIDN’T BUILD THOSE!......................
“...it’s all three of those things!”
Yeah. Right. Show me the budget. If the money is spent SOLELY on road repair and bridges -- not "green" projects like bike paths, not multi-million dollar electronic billboards and highway monitoring systems, not money to put a sign every 100 feet on the side of the road, not environemental impact studies -- then I'll be all for it. But we know that isn't the case. Its a front for a bunch of green nonsense and a way to line his union and crony capitalist buddies' pockets.
Oh, yeah, the innovative and visionary president wants to build the Hoover Dam! He wants money to slough off to his union buddies who don’t do any work on highways, bridges and tunnels. They let our infrastructure rot.
His highway plan is my way or the highway.
Congress doesn’t spend all the highway money of roads and bridges now. A significant portion is siphoned off for other pork barrel projects. Until they are spending it ALL on highways, they can pound sand.
What cost more: The war in Iraq or the Stimulus bill? (Hint: not the war.)
They ignore roads and bridges in favor of crazy “mass transit” schemes and other boondoggles.
Well instead of sending $400,000,000.00 to the mid east terrorist who hate the USA use that money for the roads instead of taxing the American tax payers.
Tea Party agitator! Stop stirring up the masses! We'll have to put you on our list ......
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Good question, FRiend. He should have been able to build a four-lane to Pluto with that kind of dough.
Oh, I forgot, light rail for the western states. Yes, a very good waste of money.
How many roads and bridges were built with the last 900 billion he got?
Ah ,he only made signs
The stimulus was to ensure that union donations to the DNC continued uninterrupted.
Because every dime goes into the general fund, not one dime of the highway taxes collected actually pays for road infrastructure.
Right. The stimulus program was supposed to give us a newly modernized infrastructure of roads and bridges. Looks like all that money was “shoveled” elsewhere.
Obama is lying as usual.
Oh, you're so negative! Another Tea Party agitator!
8^D
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