Highway Trust Fund Bailed Out With $19.5 Billion 'Reimbursement'

One of the most significant pieces of legislation for transportation was last month's job bill that contained essential transportation provisions, including extension of the transportation act, $19.5 Billion to HTF, $4.6 billion to Buy America Bonds.

1 minute read

April 2, 2010, 10:00 AM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


While the Senate approved the bill with a somewhat bipartisan vote of 68-29 on March 17, the earlier vote was 61-30 to close debate.

On March 18, President Obama signed the"HIRE Act" (HR 2847) containing several transportation provisions including:

> "Extension of the surface transportation authorization until the end of this calendar year. The previous extension of the 2005 surface transportation authorization law known as "SAFETEA-LU" was scheduled to expire March 28.

> Deposit $19.5 billion into the Highway Trust Fund to reimburse the trust fund for interest payments not received since 1998. This will ensure the trust fund's solvency into next year.

> Provide $4.6 billion in additional federal subsidies for Build America Bonds, a program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The bonds allow states and municipalities to finance infrastructure projects with an interest subsidy from the federal government.

> Allow the Highway Trust Fund in the future to collect interest on its deposits, as all other federal trust funds are authorized to do."

Friday, March 19, 2010 in AASHTO Journal

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