Editorial: Bridges need stable funds

Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 | 7:37 a.m.

It would be nice if the extra billion dollars that the Senate approved this week for bridge work was as assured as it is essential.

Unfortunately, the extra money is contained in a $106 billion bill for housing and urban development in addition to transportation needs. President Bush is threatening to veto the whole bill on the grounds that it exceeds his request for funding in those areas by $4.4 billion.

Adding to the chance that Bush will veto the bill are criticisms that it is laden with earmarks, or pork-barrel spending. The earmarks issue, in our view, is moot, as most are valid, and this year they were all disclosed in compliance with new ethics rules.

The bill includes money that was generally approved under the 2005 federal highway bill as part of the long-standing Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program. Congress had set aside about $5 billion a year under this program for the life of the highway bill, which extends through the end of 2009. This money, whose specific appropriation needs approval every year, is dispensed through annual grants to the states.

What the Senate did this week was add $1 billion to that program for the 2008 federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The extra money was a response to the Aug. 1 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people.

The collapse added urgency to a U.S. Transportation Department report published last year that pegged the national deficit for bridge repairs at $65.3 billion.

Compared with the total shortfall, $1 billion extra may not seem that much, but it is urgently needed. The bill containing the extra money passed 88-7 in the Senate and we hope the House also overwhelmingly approves it, so that Bush might be less inclined to use his veto.

The uncertainty surrounding this bill, however, shows the need for a more stable funding source for infrastructure.

We support an increase in the federal gas tax, which would affect consumers only minimally while guaranteeing tens of billions more every year for roads and bridges.