Oregonian: Highway fund deficit puts nation on road to crisis, Oregon's DeFazio says

From Oregonian:

The nation's highway system was built a gallon at a time as pennies from the tax on gas at the pump reliably raised billions of dollars over the past 50 years to build and repair roads, bridges and bike paths in Oregon and every corner of America.  But those glory days are fading as cars become more efficient, gas becomes more expensive and people made nervous by a sour economy stay closer to home… Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his department will not offer specific proposals until August at the earliest, but he has ruled out raising the gas tax while the economy is fragile.  LaHood, who two weeks ago said the Obama administration "has inherited a system that can no longer pay for itself," called on Congress on Wednesday to approve stopgap funding for the next 18 months to buy time for crafting a more permanent solution.  While LaHood said he was open to ideas, he emphatically rejected any tax increase.  "With the reality of our fiscal environment and the critical demand to address our infrastructure investments in a smarter, more focused approach, we should not rush legislation," he said in a statement.  That idea was rejected by DeFazio and other lawmakers who are writing a six-year transportation bill that they hope to pass by Sept. 30.  "Any temporary extensions are likely to diminish construction activity and cost us tens of thousands or hundreds of thousand of jobs," DeFazio said.