said on the record that clause was ‘ aspirational .’ By 1978 everyone realized that was impossible and the Rail Passenger Safety Act of that year inserted the language ‘ shall be managed and operated as ’ a forprofit business would be .”
Mathews stressed that “ the language of the act and the congressional report could not be more clear . The amendment conforms the act to the reality that Amtrak could not be profitable because no mode of [ passenger ] transportation in the world covers its own costs . The air-traffic control system in the US is a beautiful thing . It is evidence that we as a nation recognize the federal role to create and operate a safe and reliable transportation system . There is the same obligation for passenger rail .”
According to the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ), “ the Airport and Airway Trust Fund , established in 1970 and also known as the Aviation Trust Fund , helps finance the FAA ’ s investments in the airport and airway system , such as construction and safety improvements at airports and technological upgrades to the air traffic control system , as well as FAA operations , such as providing air traffic control and conducting safety inspections .”
The US Treasury estimates that the cash balance of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund was approximately $ 15.7 billion on April 30 , 2020 , roughly the same as one year ’ s budget for the FAA . None of that counts what states and local governments pay for airport construction , operations and maintenance .
The figure for roads is a bit higher , about $ 21 billion a year . According to the independent Eno Center for Transportation , “ from its inception on July 1 , 1956 through September 30 , 2019 , the US Highway Trust Fund has received $ 1.188 trillion in net tax receipts from federal excise taxes on highway users and has paid $ 1.325 trillion in outlays for federal highway , mass transit , highway safety and motor-carrier safety programs . The gap between the two numbers has been filled by periodic transfers of general revenues ( since 2008 ), interest paid by the Treasury Department to itself on accumulated balances and a small amount of fines and penalties for highway and truck safety and highway tax evasion offenses .”
There is no Passenger Rail Trust Fund . Such a steady source of funding “ has moved from fantasy to plausible ,” said Mathews . “ There is momentum in the administration and in Congress . There is
a better chance of one being established now than there has been in generations .”
Even in other categories of infrastructure where there is less overt opposition to government investment , the US scores poorly . That has been documented by no less an authority than the American Society of Civil Engineers . ASCE issues an annual report card on 17 categories , most scoring Cs and Ds ( see table below and sidebar , page 27 ).
“ The federal government funded 90 % of the Interstate Highway System , the states 10 %,” said Greg DiLoreto , past president of ASCE and currently the chair of the society ’ s Committee on America ’ s Infrastructure . He noted several major infrastructure initiatives that have received wide support over many years . For example , the Office of Road Inquiry was created in 1893 . It became the Office of Public Roads , then the Bureau of Public Roads and today the Federal Highway Administration .
“ In 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland ,” said DeLoreto . “ That is about when I was starting my career [ in water treatment ]. The event showed the nation how bad our rivers were , how bad water pollution had become . Under the Clean Water Act ( CWA ) there were federal grants of 75 % for water treatment infrastructure . It was something we had to pay for as a nation because individuals did not have the resources .”
Nor , in this instance , did the city of Cleveland . The day after the fire , Carl B . Stokes , the first Black mayor of a major US city , led a press tour of the fire site , as well as surrounding industrial areas .
As David and Richard Stradling noted in their 2015 book , Where the River Burned :
Carl Stokes and the Struggle to Save Cleveland : “ During the pollution tour , Stokes attempted to assign meaning to the fire . He argued that the city was not in a position to control the pollution within its borders … Cleveland had no power over its suburbs … And it had no control over state regulations and the pollution permit system .”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency ’ s history , “ the basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act . That Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972 . ‘ Clean Water Act ’ became the Act ’ s common name with amendments in 1972 .”
DiLoreto explained that broad political support for infrastructure investment changed abruptly in the early 1980s . “ Reagan came into office saying that government was the problem , not the solution . As part of that the grants for water and waste water became loans that had to be repaid . But if they had to borrow , states and local governments knew it was better to go to the bond markets directly .”
By 2017 most water infrastructure was owned by local governments , some by states . “ They ’ ve had to step up and raise water and sewer taxes and fees , as they have for schools and roads . The federal government has not raised the gasoline tax since 1993 .”
While taxation was a major factor leading the colonists to declare independence from Great Britain , it was less of an issue in the early republic because duties and fees were a significant source of government revenue .
“ In the Jacksonian era questions of taxing and spending , charters for businesses ,
The American Society of Civil Engineers ( ASCE ) www . MoAF . org | Summer 2021 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 25