91ÊÓƵ

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a six-year transportation bill, with funding for three years. It passed without an amendment proposed by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, that would have raised the nation’s gas tax by 15 cents per gallon. Currently, the federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon – a rate that hasn’t changed since 1993. He still says it’s the only way to pay for much-needed infrastructure fixes.

Blumenauer recently answered some questions from the 91ÊÓƵ about what is next.

91ÊÓƵ: What did your constituents think of the plan?

Earl Blumenauer: I had countless meetings with folks at home, and I have a very substantial base of support from people who understand that we can’t keep paying for 2015 infrastructure with 1993 dollars. Around the country there have been seven red, Republican states this year that have raised the gas tax. People are stunned to find out that there has been no gas tax increase since 1993. And we have probably the broadest base of support – people who are involved with construction, transit, with business, labor, people who represent automobiles, AAA, the American and Oregon trucking associations – all are on record supporting raising the user fee. Just like Ronald Reagan did in 1982.

91ÊÓƵ: What are you hearing from your Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C.? Does the issue of infrastructure funding put them in a weird spot?

Blumenauer: It does. I had conversations with three Republican colleagues in the last few hours who told me they thought we should raise the gas tax, so it’s not something where all Republicans are opposed – they’re not. As I said, seven very Republican states have already raised it.

91ÊÓƵ: Is this maybe not the right time to pass a gas tax?

Blumenauer: What do you mean? It’s been 22 years. Gas prices are low. The need is critical. We’re going to be in big trouble in our region if the federal partnership falls apart. This is the first time in over 50 years that there is no major federal transportation project in the pipeline – the first time in over 50 years. When we cut the ribbon on the Tilikum Crossing on September 12th, that was it. We’re done. And it’s been over 50 years.

91ÊÓƵ: Who have you been working with?

Blumenauer: Contractors, unions, developers, people who care about transit, who care about bicyclists, truckers. I mean this is everybody who uses, builds, maintains or depends on infrastructure is on board. They want this badly.

91ÊÓƵ: In Oregon, what projects do you see that need immediate attention?

Blumenauer: We don’t have any major projects in the pipeline. There are concerns people have about extending transit, and being able to maintain the infrastructure that we’ve got. There are needs in multimodalism and freight movement. And someday we’re going to have to address the Columbia River and the I-5 bridge. That’s a big project.

91ÊÓƵ: Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick wants to let voters look at a 10-cent city gas tax for street repairs and others projects. Might this be a way forward for communities?

Blumenauer: We’re watching that. But people need to be able to have partnerships to make this happen, and you have to have local funding. Even if we got the federal gas tax increased and got money in the pipeline, there would still be a requirement to put up local money. In Portland, this was something I was fighting to correct. When I was on the Portland City Council more than 20 years ago, we were working to adequately address just our maintenance needs – not even the need for new capacity. We’ve fallen behind. So you’re seeing people in communities large and small across the country, in other states, doing this. I think it’s wise to do it locally.

91ÊÓƵ: What about a state gas tax?

Blumenauer: At some point the state of Oregon’s got to figure out what its approach is going to be, because we don’t have enough money right now in the current state highway fund to be able to do any new projects. We can barely deal with maintenance. There was a pretty aggressive program in the past years to bond and build projects faster. But these bonds have to be paid off, and bond repayment interest takes up a very substantial portion of our existing money.