Congress is kicking the tires on a new highway aid program that might mean less money for Florida but would give states more flexibility in spending highway improvement funds.
Both the House and Senate versions of the next transportation bill contain money for the rest of the recent fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Lawmakers are planned to debate the measures when they return from recess next week.
The Senate version would provide Florida a slight raise of nearly $23 million, making the state one of only 15 that would see a raise in highway money this fiscal year. That bill would cut transportation by $1.1 billion generally.
There's abundance the Republican-run House and the Democratic-controlled Senate disagree on: How much money to use on transportation projects, how to pay for it, and how much suppleness states should have in spending the money.
Whatever they choose, the next road-building program will be meager by Washington standards because of broad, bipartisan opposition to increase the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax, the primary source of highway and mass transit funding.
The tax, separate from Florida's 16.6-cent levy, has not increased since 1993. Revenues haven't kept up with demand, in part because labor and construction costs keep increasing and vehicles are getting well-organized, so motorists aren't contributing as much on a per-mile basis as they once did.
The prospect of less money comes as Florida confronts a possible raise in highway usage. Motorists in the state traveled more miles in December last year than they did in December 2010, after nine successive months of year-to-year declines.
Both the House and Senate versions of the next transportation bill contain money for the rest of the recent fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Lawmakers are planned to debate the measures when they return from recess next week.
The Senate version would provide Florida a slight raise of nearly $23 million, making the state one of only 15 that would see a raise in highway money this fiscal year. That bill would cut transportation by $1.1 billion generally.
There's abundance the Republican-run House and the Democratic-controlled Senate disagree on: How much money to use on transportation projects, how to pay for it, and how much suppleness states should have in spending the money.
Whatever they choose, the next road-building program will be meager by Washington standards because of broad, bipartisan opposition to increase the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax, the primary source of highway and mass transit funding.
The tax, separate from Florida's 16.6-cent levy, has not increased since 1993. Revenues haven't kept up with demand, in part because labor and construction costs keep increasing and vehicles are getting well-organized, so motorists aren't contributing as much on a per-mile basis as they once did.
The prospect of less money comes as Florida confronts a possible raise in highway usage. Motorists in the state traveled more miles in December last year than they did in December 2010, after nine successive months of year-to-year declines.
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