American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act Stops the Highway Trust Fund Bailouts

The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) is a sharp departure from the pork-laden highway bills of the past.  The bill includes pro-growth reforms that remove barriers to job creation and focus taxpayer resources on high-priority infrastructure projects  without earmarks, without adding to our national debt, and without raising taxes on families and small businesses.  Just as important, it makes it much more difficult for future Congresses to add to the deficit if the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money.  When Democrats controlled the Congress, they would routinely add to the deficit if the Highway Trust Fund ran out of money.  For example:

• In March 2010, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved a $19.5 billion transfer from the Treasurys General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund, without any offsetting cuts.

• In August 2009, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved a $7 billion transfer from the Treasurys General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund, without any offsetting cuts.

The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act takes a different approach in two ways:

• First, the bill stops bailouts of the Highway Trust Fund because it is completely paid for, making transfers from Treasurys General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund unnecessary.  In a RedState post titled House Brings Conservative Reform to Broken Highway System, Speaker Boehners press secretary Brendan Buck explains how the bill doesnt add a dime to the deficit.

• Second, the measure makes it much harder for future Congresses to approve transfers from the Treasurys General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund without offsets, which previous Democratic Congresses have done several times.  Under current scorekeeping procedures used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), transfers from the Treasurys General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund are not scored as having a cost to the federal government.  Because it does cost taxpayers money, the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Actmakes clear that CBO must properly account for these transfers and the impact they have on the bottom line of the U.S. Treasury.  That is a real departure from past practices, and it will make it much harder for future Congresses to make such transfers without offsetting the cost.

In the Pledge to America, Republicans promised to reform the budget process and help stop spending money we dont have.  Specifically, the Pledge said: The spending process in Washington is designed to make it easy to increase spending and raise taxes and difficult to cut spending and lower taxes.  The deck is stacked against limited government and fiscal responsibility. This must stop.  The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act is consistent with the Pledge and its focus on spending reform and creating a better environment for private-sector job growth.