"We have to pay for it, and paying for it may mean an increase in the federal gas tax," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-IL, said Monday at a Tri-State Development Summit in Fairfield, IA. "Nobody wants to say those words. I've said them to you because unless we're honest about this, we're not going to see a federal highway bill."

Durbin told reporters that a consensus must be reached between business, labor, and community leaders to support a fuel-tax increase "to stimulate new job creation in America," the Quincy Herald-Whig reported.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Trucking Associations, and the motor club AAA in September called on Congress to swiftly enact a multiyear surface transportation authorization measure and to fully fund it by increasing the gasoline and diesel taxes that support the Highway Trust Fund.

Durbin's comments put him at odds with the Obama administration, however, which has asked for an 18-month extension of the previous transportation authorization law to give Congress more time to work out the details and funding arrangement for a new long-term bill. Three Senate committees have approved an 18-month extension, but no action has yet been taken on the Senate floor. The Senate late last month approved a House bill continuing government appropriations and transportation authorization until Oct. 31.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA and ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, which would have to approve any gas-tax hike as part of the next transportation authorization legislation, also attended Monday's summit. Grassley said that in the long term, the United States might need to rely on more than fuel taxes to cover the costs of highways and other transportation infrastructure. He expressed a desire to see the next transportation measure trim the number of federal program categories.

House Bill Won't Move Forward Until Paid For, Rangel Says

Separately this week, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he won't proceed with a plan to finance a $500 billion transportation authorization bill proposed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee until he is convinced his colleagues have the will to pay for it.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, said Wednesday he will only take up a revenue-producing plan for the measure sponsored by T&I Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, if he knows it has the votes to pass, CQ Today reported.

"Everyone is excited about a robust transportation bill," Rangel said. "The enthusiasm is out there."

However, Rangel added, "We have not concluded that everyone is willing to pay for it and call it an emergency."

At a House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday, Oberstar reportedly made an impassioned plea for colleagues to support the surface transportation bill to boost economic recovery. He said states have identified about 8,000 projects that could be started immediately if the money were available. That's in addition to more than 8,000 projects already obligated using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding.

Some members of Congress have been floating the idea of another stimulus to create more jobs. Rangel said that after healthcare, the priority is to deal with unemployment.

Oberstar has rejected any compromise that might add more money to the Highway Trust Fund as part of a short-term extension, holding firm to his support for a full six-year authorization.

"That's piecemeal," Oberstar said of the administration and Senate's desire to postpone a larger authorization measure until Spring 2011. "This is the future stimulus. We need a long-term investment."