Congressional Budget Office Reports Highway Trust Fund Again Faces Shortfall

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its January 2010 economic forecast this week, which includes estimates on Highway Trust Fund revenue and balances for the coming year, as well as projections for the next ten years.  CBO estimates that the Highway Account of the Trust Fund will have an end of year balance of about $3 billion -less than one month's spending during summer months.  An end of the year balance this low would mean the Highway Account will be unable to meet obligations in a timely manner again this year without a transfer of funds from the general fund or other revenue source.    CBO estimates that the Mass Transit Account will have an end of year balance of $2.9 billion.   CBO estimates that without further action, the Mass Transit Account will likely have cash flow problems similar to the Highway Account during fiscal year 2011.     If the Highway Trust Fund's balance gets low enough, spending on highway and transit programs would be slowed.  Department of Transportation has indicated that if the fund reached this level, it would reimburse states at a prorated amount in order to maintain a positive balance in the fund. Congress in the past year has made two transfers of revenue to the HTF totaling $15 billion to keep payments to states flowing in a timely fashion.