[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 51 (Friday, April 19, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRUTH IN BUDGETING ACT

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                               speech of

                        HON. JOHN N. HOSTETTLER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 17, 1996

       The House in Committee of the Whole on the State of the 
     Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 842) to provide 
     off-budget treatment for the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport 
     and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and 
     the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund:

  Mr. HOSTETTLER. Mr. Chairman, today we are having a very 
controversial debate about where the truth in budgeting transportation 
funds really lies. I rise today in support of H.R. 842, The Truth in 
Budgeting Act.
  Every time you or I pull into a gas station and fill up our cars or 
pay a tax on an airline ticket, we are sending money to Washington to 
build new highways and maintain our current transportation systems. 
Decades ago, these transportation trust funds were established to 
collect taxes from transportation users and invest in transportation 
capital. Today, we find the transportation trust fund balance at $30 
billion. The existence of this on-budget trust fund surplus only 
reinforces the public's belief that they are not getting an honest 
return for the taxes they pay to Washington. This issue is about tax 
fairness.
  Spending and investment in necessary transportation improvements has 
been held down to keep the balance of the trust fund artificially high 
in order to mask the true size of the deficit, this is just not honest. 
Those who pay into the trust fund should be able to count on those 
dollars going toward the purpose for which they were intended.
  H.R. 842 does not add to the deficit. According to a March 20, 1996 
estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, taking programs off 
budget does not change total spending of the Federal Government and 
does not affect spending or revenue estimates for congressional 
scorekeeping purposes.
  H.R. 842 does not alter the transportation spending process. Congress 
will still have to approve every new dollar of trust fund spending.
  H.R. 842, however, does assure this: When a taxpayer back home pays 
gasoline or airline ticket tax to the Federal Government, he knows it 
is going towards building or improving our national transportation 
system.

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