The administration of President Barack Obama is warning that the federal Highway Trust Fund is close to going broke, and will no longer be able to cover promised aid to states for road construction and mass-transit projects. The White House says Obama will discuss the issue at a pair of events this week in Virginia and Delaware. States have been told to expect a reduction of 28 percent in aid on average, the Associated Press reported.

"Potholes do not fix themselves," said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., adding the Highway Trust Fund will run dry in just a few short weeks. "This is very serious."

The fund reimburses the lion's share of what Vermont pays for road construction, said Brian Searles, the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Money flows into it from federal taxes on gas and diesel fuel. Those fees have remained flat since 1993, Welch said, while the costs of the construction projects they pay for have gone up.

Congress, as it usually is on budget matters, is starkly divided on how to keep the fund from becoming insolvent. Welch said a short-term fix to shore up the fund is up for debate this week. It would do so with billions of dollars from several sources including changes to pension taxes. Welch called the short-term idea a “gimmick” and called for long-term solutions.

Searles said the state is unsure if it'll have the federal funds it's banking on to address decaying infrastructure, make improvements, and plan for future projects. "It's likely to be a 30 percent or more reduction, so projects that are currently under construction would need to be slowed or stopped," Searles said.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation released a list of more than 50 projects in the state that could be delayed because of unavailable federal money, or slowed reimbursements from the federal government. A list of those projects is located on the website of Rep. Welch.

Contractors have also voiced concerns over how the Highway Trust Fund's murky future may impact construction jobs and economic activity that construction wages create. "When a bridge falls because it's not repaired, and innocent lives are taken, that's when people start to listen," said Cathy Lamberton, the executive vice president of The Associated General Contractors of Vermont. "And I hope that we don't get to that place."

There are proposals out there to pump money into the Highway Trust Fund, including business tax reforms and an update to those old gas taxes. Republicans have over the years opposed gas tax increases for this purpose, but Welch said now is the time to bring them up again for a long-term solution for the trust fund. "It's tough," Welch said of the impact of any new taxes on Americans. "But I think people know you can't get a free lunch. So somehow, some way we're going to have to pay for this if we're going to maintain our roads and bridges."

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee is a Republican who has pushed for an increase in the federal gas tax. He and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., worked on bipartisan legislation they announced last month that would add six cents to the tax on gasoline and diesel fuel for the next two years, and index the increases to inflation. The proposal also called for tax relief for American families and businesses in other areas, Corker's website noted.

"In Washington, far too often, we huff and puff about paying for proposals that are unpopular, yet throw future generations under the bus when public pressure mounts on popular proposals that have broad support," Sen. Corker wrote in a June 18 statement on his website. "Congress should be embarrassed that it has played chicken with the Highway Trust Fund and allowed it to become one of the largest budgeting failures in the federal government. If Americans feel that having modern roads and bridges is important then Congress should have the courage to pay for it."

Rep. Welch said Congress should not take its summer vacation next month unless it first creates meaningful solutions to keeping transportation money flowing to states.

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