U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer praised the trillion-dollar-plus investment being made in the nation’s transportation, communications and other networks.

But at a recent national forum, the Democrat from Oregon — a long-time advocate of such spending — asked: What’s next?

Blumenauer’s reference was to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the 2021 law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, that sets aside $1.2 trillion in spending over the next five years. Though about half of it renews federal spending authority for highways and bridges, the other $550 billion is going into improvements for transportation safety, public transit and passenger and freight rail, expansion of electric charging stations, broadband access and the power grid, and adaptation for climate change.

“We have made remarkable progress. We are going to be reaping the benefits for decades to come on a balanced, multimodal approach and trying to make it climate sensitive,” Blumenauer said. “But we still have must of our work ahead of us.”

Blumenauer said that such spending after 2026 cannot be sustained by the highway trust fund, which is no longer generating enough from fuel taxes, or by drawing from the rest of the federal budget.

“We still have a long-term problem with sustainable financing for our transportation system,” he said. “We’ve had proposals for the federal government to step up and do its part.”

Though many states and communities have raised their own taxes linked to transportation, he said, “They are no substitute for the federal government to do its part on a long-term sustainable basis. We do not have a sustainable program to deal with the loss of revenue from electrification.”

Blumenauer was among the panelists in a virtual discussion sponsored Oct. 19 by the Penn Institute for Urban Research, based in Philadelphia, and the Volcker Alliance.

Blumenauer is a former state representative, Multnomah County commissioner and Portland city commissioner who was elected to Congress in May 1996. Almost from his start in Congress, where he now sits on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, he has advocated for a higher federal fuel tax. The most recent increase was in 1993, when Congress raised the federal tax from 14.1 cents to 18.4 cents per gallon. (Part of the original increase went to reduce federal budget deficits, but Congress removed the requirement.)

Cold water on future fuel taxes

Oregon’s state fuel tax is 38 cents per gallon. Multnomah and Washington counties, and 30 cities — several in the three Portland metro counties, including Portland — have their own taxes.

But Blumenauer said he is now convinced that type of increase is at a dead-end because of increased fuel efficiency of gas-powered cars, an increasing number of electric vehicles — and persistent public and political resistance over five presidential administrations.

“The fuel tax has become toxic. I’ve had legislation to raise the fuel tax, Congress after Congress,” he said.

“We’ve had massive displays of support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, with road users and local government. We had everybody in support of it — except the public and the politicians. I’ve reached the point where it no longer makes sense to try and go forward with a fuel tax, in part because it is increasingly becoming obsolete. As we move toward electrification, we are in a downward spiral, and we would be playing catch-up if we could get an increase. In this climate, it’s not possible.

“Linking it to road use is one of the imperatives in dealing with congestion,” he added.

Oregon experimented for years with a mileage tax, and it is now voluntary. Oregon now tops 70,000 electric vehicles, but they remain a small portion of the state’s 1.4 million registered passenger cars. However, Oregon has adopted rules barring the sale of new gasoline-fueled vehicles starting with the 2035 model year — the same as in Washington and California — as a step to slash greenhouse-gas emissions generated from transportation by 2050.

Effects of 2021 law

The 2021 federal legislation is the first long-term renewal of transportation spending authority since 2009; renewals are typically for five years. But presidents and Congresses had been unable to agree on extensions — the longest was about two and a half years — until the 2021 law passed with mostly Democratic support, though some Republicans also voted for it, mainly in the Senate.

Oregon did get $1.2 billion from the 2021 law for transportation projects, which the Oregon Transportation Commission divided up in early 2022. The bulk of it went into programs earmarked by the federal legislation, but $400 million in flexible funds went into a range of programs designated by the state commission. Oregon got $157 million in September for broadband expansion from a different fund under the law.

Oregon and Washington are seeking federal help in the billions for a new Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River linking Portland with Vancouver, Wash. Legislatures in both states have pledged $1 billion each toward construction costs and approved tolling authority, although specifics are still subject to a future bistate agreement.

“We had a gusher of resources,” Blumenauer said. “Most important … this is the first time we have had an unequivocal commitment to be able to rebuild and renew America. It’s a refreshing change.

“This is an administration that is committed not just to moving money out the door and funding projects, they are committed to the right ones.”

Alison Premo Black, senior vice president and chief economist, American Road & Transportation Builders Association, said the injection of federal money is spurring road projects and construction employment.

“This is a program with projects, particularly for the federal-aid highway program, that is really touching every community and county across the country,” she said. “States have been able to get that money out and commit it to tens of thousands of projects.”

A White House official said $300 billion has been distributed so far to 38,000 projects in 4,500 communities. (A list can be found at Invest.gov.)

“This is just the beginning. Infrastructure delivery can take years,” said Samantha Silverberg, White House deputy coordinator for infrastructure implementation. “So, while we are two years in and moving really fast, we realize this is only the early stage of implementation. There is still much more in the pipeline.”

Other panelists were from George Washington University, Wells Fargo and the National Association of Counties.