The White House announced this week that the budget request President Obama will present to Congress next week will propose a $10-a-barrel oil tax, phased in over five years, to pay for a variety of transportation initiatives. The revenue raised would fund clean transportation infrastructure and provide “the funding necessary to make these new investments, while also providing for the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund to ensure we maintain the infrastructure we have.” The plan will call for nearly $20 billion per year above current spending to reduce traffic and provide new commuter options by expanding public transit systems in cities, suburbs and rural areas. The plan also would include investment in train systems like high-speed rail and maglev and suggest $10 billion annually to reform how regional transportation systems are planned and designed. That money would also be used to create a "Climate Smart Fund" to give "bonus" funding to states that cut carbon pollution in the transportation sector. The budget proposal will also propose three competitive grant programs, including one for "clean communities" to support cities and towns that expand clean transportation choices. The proposal would call for more than $2 billion to expand clean transportation research and development. It would also fund regional fueling infrastructure for low-carbon vehicles.
The budget will also recommend business tax reform initiatives to help fund some of the initiatives. In the statement, the White House said the proposal is a means of moving the country beyond its vast highway system developed in the 1950s. The White House also said that the funding mechanisms employed in the budget proposal are meant to "build on the success" of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The immediate response from Republican congressional leaders, however, was that the proposal was dead on arrival.