[Southack]

"The question I asked was, "In what form are Highway Funds held?" If they're held in the form of US bonds, like the Social Security "trust fund", then the actual funds have indeed been spent and replaced with IOUs."

Doesn't matter. Money is fungible.

What *does* matter is that Highway Funds aren't counted to offset our federal budget deficit numbers.

[Shalom Israel]

Doesn't matter. Money is fungible.

That answer says a lot. A US bond is a claim on future tax revenue. If highway funds are held as bonds, then the money was spent, and replaced with a claim against future revenues, which makes it part of the deficit. Accounting bonds as cash is one method of understating the deficit.

Do I gather correctly from your reply that you're a right-leaning statist?