Dems duck transportation discussion in debate

The Democratic presidential candidates steered clear of discussing transportation funding issues in their first debate on Saturday night, as Congress grapples with an Nov. 20 deadline for extending the nation’s infrastructure funding. 

The three remaining Democratic candidates made only a couple of passing references to rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure in their hour-and-half debate in Iowa, but none of them offered proposals for paying for those transportation projects. 

“We are gonna do a political revolution which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said. “Because every issue that I am talking about, paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding a fumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people.

{mosads}”I believe that we paid for many of the things that we need to do again as a nation, investing in the skills of our people, our infrastructure and research and development and also climate change– by the elimination of one big entitlement that we can no longer afford as a people,” former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley added. “And that is the entitlement that many of our super wealthiest citizens feel they are entitled to pay, namely a much lower income tax rate and a lower tax rate on capital gains.” 

Former Secretary of State and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, did not mention transportation or infrastructure in her remarks during Saturday’s debate. 

The lack of focus on concrete transportation funding proposals among the Democratic presidential comes as Congress is struggling to come up with a way to pay for an infrastructure funding extension that is set to expire on Friday. 

Transportation advocates complain that Congress has not passed an infrastructure measure that lasts longer than two years since 2005 due to a highway funding shortfall that is estimated to be $16 billion annually.

The traditional source for transportation funding is revenue that is collected by the federal gas tax, which is currently set at 18.4 cents-per-gallon. The gas tax brings about $34 billion per year, but the federal government typically spends about $50 billion annually on transportation projects.

Transportation advocates have pushed for a gas tax increase to help make up the difference, but Republicans have been reluctant to ask drivers to pay more at the pump. 

The Department of Transportation has warned that it will have to begin cutting back on payments to states and local governments for infrastructure projects in November if Congress does not reach an agreement on a highway bill extension this month. 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated it will take about $100 billion, in addition to the annual gas tax revenue, to pay for a six-year transportation funding bill.