Dive Brief:

• Congressional budget proposals released last week by House and Senate Republicans do not offer a solution to the deficit of federal funds available to fund highway construction, the Associated General Contractors of America, a trade association for construction contractors, said last week.

• The House plan would create a "deficit-neutral reserve fund for transportation,” but does not propose an amount or a means of funding it. The Senate plan would start a similar fund, but specifically for air transportation.

• Federal transportation funds come largely from an 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax. The $34 billion that tax raises each year, however, falls short of the $50 billion the government spends annually on transportation projects.

Dive Insight:

In response, the AGC launched a national advertising campaign to pressure Congress and the president to “figure out a way to fund needed highway and transit repairs,” according to a press release. 

The campaign, called #DriveBetterRoads, aims to prompt commuters and shippers to “make their voice[s] heard in Washington.”