The incipient deal between Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders and his House counterpart Jeff Miller on a VA-reform bill to deal with the terrible backlogs of medical treatment is the first encouraging sign that the last stages of the 113th Congress will not be a total, embarrassing failure. There is also a chance, though not a great one, that we will see some kind of patch to deal with the border crisis. Still, with only two days left before the August break, with a minimal schedule set for the fall, and with Republicans determined not to rock their own boat by forcing votes that divide the GOP Conference between radicals and conservatives—which means votes on almost anything that could result in a signing ceremony—it is hard to be very bullish.
And that is profoundly depressing. The fact is that there are multiple crises or pressing problems out there, and the deep dysfunction in Congress is like a force field where progress on solutions bounces off to die. Nowhere is this more true than in the broad area of infrastructure, and the narrower and more immediate need to replenish the Highway Trust Fund.
The fund has been financed through the gasoline tax, and a combination of factors has seen it dwindle to next to nothing. With crumbling highways and bridges and greater demand, the needs have grown. But the revenue from the gas tax, which has not changed from the 18.4 cents a gallon imposed in 1993, has not come close to keeping pace. Inflation has reduced its value by nearly 40 percent; if inflation indexing had been in place, the tax on autos would now be 29 cents a gallon. At the same time, the dramatic advances in fuel efficiency have substantially eroded the amount coming in, and the value will erode much further as the new fuel-efficiency standards take effect over the next decade.