WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Highway Trust Fund faces a looming shortfall that could bring vital transportation projects across the country to a standstill, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today called on Congress to not only replenish the fund, but also to fulfill its obligation to the country by governing in a fiscally responsible manner. King, who spoke on the Senate floor, urged his colleagues to address the serious challenges that confront the country, like record debt and deficits as well as crumbling infrastructure, rather than find short-term fixes that only kick the bills to future generations.

“Funding from the federal government for highways, for infrastructure around the country will decline precipitously starting in August, and we’re talking around here about a patch – about something that will get us through a few months. But nobody’s talking about really solving the problem. And everybody’s talking about all of these convoluted ways to avoid the reality that we need to pay for what we do. We need to pay for our highways, for our roads, for our bridges. And right now we are not doing it,” Senator King said.

“No matter how much we try to avoid it, we’re going to have to pay our bills. And to not pay our bills – we have to realize – is simply passing those bills to our kids. That’s unethical. It’s immoral. It’s wrong. And it’s not what our parents and grandparents did for us,” he later continued. “I think we owe the same level of consideration, the same level of sacrifice, the same level of realism…to our children and grandchildren that we have been the beneficiaries of. So I hope as this debate unfolds in the next several weeks that we pay attention to the critical importance that infrastructure plays in the competitiveness of our society and in our future for our children.”

Last year Maine received $165 million from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) to help fund transportation construction projects across the state. The Maine Department of Transportation estimates that if Congress fails to find a solution by the beginning of August, Maine will lose approximately $28 million during that month, which would be a 17 percent reduction in Maine’s total annual federal highway funding for the current year.

“This is really going to hurt Maine,” Senator King said. “It’s particularly going to hurt if we don’t do something in the next month because we have a short construction season. If we lose our funding between August and October, we’ve effectively lost it for the next eight or nine months. It’s going to impair projects that are ongoing, and it’s going to essentially eliminate across the country new highway and infrastructure projects.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure a D+ on its 2013 report card, including a C- grade for the State of Maine. Estimates of how much investment is needed to repair and rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure reach as high as $2 trillion over the next two decades.

Senator King has repeatedly advocated for greater investment in America’s deteriorating infrastructure system. Earlier this year, he cosponsored a bipartisan, bicameral bill – the Partnership to Build America Act – to establish a $50 billion infrastructure fund that can potentially support hundreds of billions in loan guarantees and financing authority for state and local governments. The fund would finance transportation, energy, communications, water, and education infrastructure projects.

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