{ "id": "RS21164", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RS21164", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 103028, "date": "2003-05-19", "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:44:52.842544", "title": "Highway Finance: RABA's Double-edged Sword", "summary": "The debate over a possible reduction in federal highway program spending during FY2003 has\nended. Congress has chosen to overrule provisions of law that would have reduced the FY2003\nspending level to $23.2 billion, and has instead settled on $31.8 billion, the same as the FY2002\nlevel. In early 2002, it appeared that a major reduction in highway program spending was in the\noffing. An Office of Management and Budget calculation in the President's budget indicated that\nthe RABA adjustment for FY2003 would be negative. The Administration and Congress were not\nproposing a cutback. Rather a complex financing mechanism known as Revenue Aligned Budget\nAuthority (RABA) was proving the famous law of unintended consequences. Predictions made at\nthe time RABA was created by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century as amended\n(TEA-21)( P.L. 105-178 & P.L. 105-206 ) saw it as an ever growing source of funding for the\nhighway program, even though RABA was created with the possibility of a downward adjustment.\nRABA provided the highway program with almost $9 billion in additional financing during the years\nFY2000 through FY2002. Congressional action in the 2nd Session of the 107th Congress precluded\nthis downward adjustment, at least in part, and the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003\n( P.L. 108-7 ) guaranteed that funding would remain at the FY2002 level. This report will not be\nupdated.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RS21164", "sha1": "80b546713550620d9d2cdfe36bd9376b2fd5aced", "filename": "files/20030519_RS21164_80b546713550620d9d2cdfe36bd9376b2fd5aced.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS21164", "sha1": "bd2664ebfc1ba8b73e163f87b5b3b84b5403cd71", "filename": "files/20030519_RS21164_bd2664ebfc1ba8b73e163f87b5b3b84b5403cd71.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Appropriations" ] }