Sen. Boxer Talks About Her Transportation Priorities

Reuters has done a lot of interesting interviews this week from its Infrastructure Summit. In the news service’s latest dispatch, the Senate’s transportation pointperson, Barbara Boxer, discusses her plans for the highway bill.

In ADD-friendly bullet point form (it’s Friday afternoon, for heaven’s sake), a few noteworthy items from the interview:

> The Senate plans to stick with the gas tax, but it “is very important to index the gas tax to inflation,” says Boxer.

> “I also don’t want to increase the gas tax,” she says.

> Also under consideration: Raising taxes on diesel; trying to open the door to private capital; creating a vehicle miles traveled tax.

> “[Boxer] wants to maintain the same relationship between the federal government and states, whereas Oberstar is considering giving the states more discretion in spending,” says Reuters.

There’s a long way to go before the new transportation bill reaches anything close to final form — but the pace of developments is already picking up. And it sounds like there’s a showdown brewing between the House and the Senate with respect to how much latitude the states have in spending their federal transportation dollars.

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