NOTE: RFF on the Issues will be published intermittently for the remainder of the summer.
In this edition:
- Insight into the funding needs of US highway infrastructure projects
- Commentary on addressing countries’ welfare disparities during climate negotiations
Highway Trust Fund Standoff
Congress has yet to reach an agreement on how to finance the Highway Trust Fund before it runs out at the end of July, which would “shut down road and bridge construction projects across the nation.” Policymakers hope to craft a $60 billion bill that could cover four years of highway spending at current levels, though members from both parties argue that a flat extension “isn’t nearly enough to repair the nation’s aging infrastructure.”
In the second installment of a blog series on the Highway Trust Fund, RFF’s Alan Krupnick, Virginia McConnell, and William Raich review current US transportation infrastructure needs. Noting that 20 percent of federal highways were in “poor or mediocre condition” as of 2012, they write that all future maintenance, repair, and expansion of transportation infrastructure will require support from “consistent funding sources.” In a follow-up blog, the authors discuss the advantages of financing the Highway Trust Fund by raising the gasoline tax.
Papal Call for Climate Action
Pope Francis recently described climate change as “one of the principle challenges facing humanity in our day.” In his new encyclical, he advises richer countries to reduce their fossil fuel usage and “support policies and programs of sustainable development” in the world’s disadvantaged regions.
RFF’s Robert Stavins of Harvard notes that bridging the welfare divide between countries will be one of the biggest challenges of the upcoming climate negotiations: “The major sticking points from now until the Paris talks … are all associated with the divide between rich and poor nations. The ongoing talks will need to satisfy the interests of both the rich and the poor countries in regard to finance mechanisms, including the realization of the $100 billion commitment that was made in Copenhagen.”
