LAWMAKERS again extend contentious programs with short-term fix.
WASHINGTON — The list of problems that Congress has addressed with short-term fixes is a long one.
When senators left town early Saturday after approving a brief extension of the nation’s highway and transit aid, they were following a well-worn path. If a program is about to expire and the two sides are stymied over what to do, Congress often keeps the program alive temporarily and revisits the deadlock later.
The two-month rescue of the highway trust fund is Congress’ 33nd short-term patch of that program since 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation says. Lawmakers have approved another 101 measures temporarily keeping federal agencies open since it last completed all of its spending bills on time in 1997, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Lawmakers have also used short extensions to address expiring tax breaks, avoid federal defaults and keep agriculture and other programs from grinding to a halt, frustrating government agencies craving stability.
“If we were a company, we’d be bankrupt,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
The fallback, short-term strategy has been used by both parties and draws plenty of critics, who say it lets lawmakers postpone making uncomfortable choices. They cite that inaction as a reason why Congress’ popularity remains low: In a poll this month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, just 22 percent approve of the job congressional leaders are doing.
Leaders argue that while no one prefers short-term legislation, it buys time to seek longer-term solutions while keeping popular programs afloat.
“Some of this is hard. And particularly on the money side,” No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said in explaining why Congress resorts to short-term fixes, frequently due to disputes over how to pay for programs.
The highway bill is a good example. The government’s ability to spend money from the highway trust fund expires May 31. There is bipartisan support for a long-term extension of the highway program, but little agreement over how to pay for it.
The highway trust fund is financed chiefly by federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel that have not been increased since 1993 under President Bill Clinton. A few lawmakers would raise that tax, while other proposals include collecting more taxes from American companies doing business abroad.
An extension through July “was not our preferred path forward,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said last week as his chamber approved the bill.
But he said that if Congress didn’t pass the twomonth extension, more than 4,000 U.S. Department of Transportation personnel would be put on furlough and transportation projects across the U.S. would be at risk.
Still, the two-month extension was an easy target for others, who said state and local governments need the certainty of long-term financing to build and plan road projects.
“What can you build in 60 days? Well, you can fill a pothole,” said No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday that the Highway Trust Fund would spend about $10 billion during the twomonth period.
The most recent extension of the highway fund was enacted in August. States and advocates for roads and transportation have complained that Congress, by repeatedly relying on short funding extensions, has made it difficult to plan long-term construction projects.
“We will more than likely have to pass another shortterm patch” before August, Shuster said.
President Barack Obama’s administration said Tuesday that Congress needs to “end the era of short-term patches and chronic underinvestment” in highways and mass transit.
“This continuing pattern of uncertainty has already caused several states to cancel or defer projects during the height of summer construction season,” the administration’s budget office said in a statement.
Spending from the Highway Trust Fund has outpaced its tax revenue since 2001. Shortfalls have been made up by periodic transfers from the Treasury’s general fund. Those transfers totaled $54 billion from 2008 through 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In a departure from its pattern of temporary fixes, Congress voted overwhelmingly in April to resolve one nagging problem and permanently change how Medicare reimburses doctors.
Lawmakers had voted 17 times since 2003 to temporarily block a 1997 law that would have forced cuts in doctors’ Medicare fees, reductions that threatened to make it harder for elderly Medicare recipients to find medical care.
Tired of the relentless pressure to prevent the cuts, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., struck a compromise revamping the payment system, with most of the 10-year, $214 billion costs coming from increased federal borrowing.