Congress Is Paying No Attention To Me | Eastern NC Now

    Years ago I wrote about how Congress was taking (stealing) funds out of the Highway Trust Fund and using those funds for what they say were more pressing or more worthy things. I asked Congress to stop doing this and, as usual, Congress paid me no never mind.

    My basic premise was that the Gas Sales Tax is levied on us to pay for Highways, Bridges and Roads because Highways, Bridges and Roads are in need of constant maintenance and construction. Taking the money to use for other needs is misappropriation of funds but Congress does this type of thing all the time.

    Congress doing things all the time makes it OK ... Or does it?

    There you go again thinking I am being too picky but you will never get me to change my mind on this one. I believe, if they want to spend $78,000,000,000 (amount Congress spent in a recent 4 year span) on other things, they ought to pass completely separate bills to fund these other things.

    What other things am I talking about? Here are a few examples...
     Bicycle Paths
     Walking Paths
     Jogging Paths
     25 transportation museums
     Horse Riding Trails
     Daniel Boone Path (whatever that is)

    Now you are saying to yourself, "Self, why is he being so hard on Congress? If the money is just sitting around, why not put it to use?"

    That's just it. The money is not just sitting around. As soon as money starts to sit (that means, as soon as it arrives) Congress takes it.

    Eventually, our representatives stand up in Congress and poke holes in the air with their fingers and propose that the Gas Tax be raised because the Trust Fund "Lock" Box is empty.

    Until they can raise the Gas Tax, where do we get the money to bail out the Highway Trust Fund? Can you say ... "Borrow from China"?

    What did I just hear you say to yourself? Did you really say, "Why not borrow it from China? It is just sitting around in China."

    I do not consider that a valid argument.

    Would I kid u?
    Smartfella

    Lagniappe:
    Below is an excerpt from a Beaufort County Now article which shows that North Carolina takes money from the Highway Trust Fund in the normal course of business. "Annual Transfer" means they do it all the time.
    Bill Would Reallocate Bond Money For Transportation     Published: Friday, May 20th, 2016 @ 5:06 am
    By: John Locke Foundation
    "It's also important to note that the legislature ended the annual transfer of $200 million from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund so that the state could invest more in transportation without taking on new debt."

    Looks to me like the state takes the funds out of the Highway Trust Fund and then the Highway Trust Fund has to borrow money to function.