Michael Willis: Adequate funding needed for Indian Coutry roads

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the Intertribal Transportation Association and the newly-formed Tribal Transportation Unity Caucus have linked tribes and tribal organizations in an effort to develop and promote the “Tribal Transportation Unity Act,” a proposal for comprehensive tribal transportation legislation. This tribal coalition presented their proposal to key transportation and infrastructure committees in the Congress the week before Secretary Foxx delivered his.

The Tribal Unity proposal urges the United States to deepen its commitment to infrastructure investment and transportation services in Indian Country through substantial funding increases as well as terms that provide tribal governments greater authority to plan, construct and operate transportation programs to meet tribal needs. The Obama Administration’s “Grow America Act” reflects some of these priorities, but fails to contemplate the level of investment or the breadth of tribal authority contained in the Tribal Unity Act legislation.

The most significant challenge facing tribes is the lack of adequate funding to meet the overwhelming and documented need. This Congress has objected to increasing investment in transportation when revenues from its sole funding source—the federal gas tax—are declining.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration ties its $302 billion transportation proposal to tax reforms that have yet to materialize. Even with this yet unproven source of revenue, the Grow America Act proposes only $507 million for the Tribal Transportation Program in FY 2015, which is notably less than the $600 million proposal the President put forward two years ago. While the proposed funding levels will increase to $538 million by FY 2018, they do not represent a transformative increase over the current level of $450 million that has been held in place since 2009. Staff for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), recently indicated to NCAI that the Committee does not plan to entertain any new funding for the Tribal Transportation Program.