Senate negotiators have agreed to remove a Social Security-related provision from a $47 billion highway deal that relies on a patchwork of funding tactics, sweetening the deal for Democrats who’ve wavered on the six-year bill.
Democrats said $2.3 billion the bill would raise by denying Social Security benefits to fugitive felons is best kept within Social Security’s trust funds, not siphoned away for roads spending.
They also said identical efforts in the past have been wobbly at best, mistakenly roping in beneficiaries who were neither felons nor fleeing from justice.
Don Stewart, a spokesman for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, confirmed the change, adding the bill “remains paid for” because budget scorers determined the funds were no longer needed.
Lawmakers voted late Wednesday to kickstart debate on the overall bill, brokered by Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, and Mr. McConnell, who warned senators they may have to work through the weekend to finish up and avert a July 31 deadline to keep local projects moving.
“This bipartisan bill would fund our roads, highways, and bridges for longer than any transportation bill considered by Congress in a decade — and the highway proposal will do so without increasing taxes or adding to the deficit,” Mr. McConnell said Thursday. “That’s no small achievement.”
The House, though, is working on a different long-term deal that would rely on a one-time tax on business income brought back to the U.S. from overseas. GOP leaders say that deal will take months to finalize, so the House has already passed a short-term bill keeping the highway program running through mid-December.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said Thursday that time is running out for the Senate to act, and her priority will be making sure the highway trust fund doesn’t expire.
“It’s not going to be done by the end of next week,” she said of the other chamber’s bill.
Highway funding has been a sticking point for years, leaving Congress to pass short-term extensions rather than a broad multi-year bill that most lawmakers say they’d prefer.
Republicans have ruled out raising the gas tax, which funds most existing road-building, but falls about $90 billion short of what the government expects to need over the next six years.
Mr. McConnell was able to find about half of that money, which is why his bill authorizes six years’ spending, while only paying for the first three years’ worth.
While some still question changes to Federal Reserve dividend payments and tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to pay for the bill, negotiators were able to cross Social Security off the list, drawing praise from some outside groups.
“Using Social Security as Congress’ ATM to fund unrelated programs takes earned benefits away from retirees, people with disabilities and their families already living on modest incomes,” the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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