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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Editorial: Congress gets moving on transportation, bank

With the federal highway trust fund running on fumes, the House of Representatives on Thursday finally decided to fill ’er up for six years.

It’s the first time in a decade Congress has been able to pass a plan. The fund is due to run out on Nov. 20.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that they’re only paying half the bill.

Nonetheless, passing a six-year deal and figuring out how to pay for the final three years is a victory in Congress these days. This is especially true because a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank through 2019 hitched a ride on the bill. More good news for trade-dependent Washington state.

The Ex-Im maneuver might be confusing to those who’ve read that the House already cleared the bank for reauthorization, but Congress works in mysterious ways. The House passed a stand-alone bank bill, but the Senate attached its to its transportation measure.

One of the chambers needed to match the other, so the House changed its approach. The bank returns a surplus to federal coffers, so financing reauthorization wasn’t an issue.

However, the two chambers still need to reconcile their transportation packages, so defeat could still be snatched from the jaws of victory.

The Senate had already renewed transportation accounts for six years, but only paid for three years. The House made the final three years contingent on finding funding. As with many recent issues that were the subject of gridlock, this one sailed through, on a 363-64 vote, once leadership allowed a vote.

The House bill calls for $261 billion in highway spending and $55 billion for transit. Leadership blocked a vote on a gas-tax increase of 15 cents a gallon to fully fund it. Both chambers finance the first three years out of current accounts.

As states have figured out, transportation dollars aren’t going to magically materialize, and the gasoline tax doesn’t stretch as far as it once did. The feds spend $50 billion a year on repairs, but collect only $34 billion from vehicle-related sources.

Raising the federal gas tax would seem to be an unavoidable move.

But at least now government can begin to tackle the massive backlog of maintenance projects, a plus for commerce and safety. Two-thirds of U.S. roads are in subpar condition, according to the U.S. Transportation Department, and about one-fourth of bridges need replacing.

An Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed last year. If key bridges for rail and trucks were to collapse around the country, the economy would take a hit. If nothing is done, crumbling infrastructure will cost businesses $1.2 trillion by 2020, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Local governments, which have been begging for transportation dollars, should finally get some help, too. Perhaps some of the projects that have fallen off Washington and Idaho’s lists can be revived.

The passage of a long-term transportation bill and the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank went through many unnecessary detours. But, perhaps, the country is back on the right road.

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