Marshall Sanford: “ISTEA will be reauthorized this year. ISTEA sets the funding formula by which gas taxes are spread across our country…”

“ISTEA will be reauthorized this year. ISTEA sets the funding formula by which gas taxes are spread across our country, and I think with it will come the chance to make a real stand for the simple theme of fairness. Fairness is the most fundamental of all American precepts. It is the idea on which the Revolutionary War was built. It was the idea behind the Boston Tea Party. It was the idea behind the civil rights movement. Yet right now with our gas tax formula, we have a formula that leaves South Carolina losing $50 million a year, California losing over $200 million a year, Florida losing over $200 million a year, while a handful of States up in the Northeast receive disproportionate amounts of money. That is not fair. The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Largent), the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement), and myself have a Highway Trust Fund Fairness Act which would address this inequity. There are a number of other proposals to address this inequity. The point that I think we all need to remember is that it needs to be addressed and it needs to be fixed.”