Highway Fund Rescue Ideas Die Off as U.S. Warns of Unpaid Bills
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Five months before the U.S. Highway Trust Fund may be unable to pay its bills, top policy makers are shooting down the only ideas that can prop it up in time.
Boosting the nation’s 18.4 cents-a-gallon gasoline tax can’t pass the House, lawmakers say. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat drafting the Senate’s highway bill, yesterday said her idea for a levy on oil at refineries isn’t getting traction either. And House Speaker John Boehner said he rejects the idea of a taxpayer bailout of the trust fund.