Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, proclaimed that the Federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money sometime this summer, and will require between $5 billion and $7 billion to stay solvent.
 
Senator Boxer also said that White House officials are estimating that $8 billion to $10 billion will be needed to finance projects already authorized through the end of fiscal year 2010. Boxer’s comments came during a nomination hearing for Victor M. Mendez to head the Federal Highway Administration. 
 
Congress approved an $8 billion transfer to the Trust Fund in September of 2008. The outlines of a permanent solution will come on June 9 when House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) unveils the broad outlines of a highway and surface transportation re-authorization bill. Oberstar’s draft bill will focus on programs and policy, not the financing mechanism. That portion of the legislation falls under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Ways and Means, which is chaired by Charles Rangel (D-NY). Options for replenishing the Trust Fund include raising the current federal tax on gasoline, which stands at 18.4 cents per gallon.