House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica (R-FL) introduced H.R. 4239 yesterday; a “clean” extension to the nation’s surface transportation program. While lawmakers are supposedly dancing to the drumbeat of slashing deficits and cutting wasteful spending, there is nothing “clean” about this bill: it only dirties the hands of Congress which continues to refuse to make tough fiscal decisions.

Similar to the last eight extensions of the expired transportation bill, under this extension spending levels would remain unchanged from the nation’s Highway Trust Fund—the dedicated account for roads and transit supported primarily by gas taxes. Unfortunately, the Highway Trust Fund brings in far less in revenues than the current “burn rate” of spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if outlays are kept at current rates, the Highway Trust Fund’s balance will fall to zero by the middle of 2013. Instead of taking the issue head on, the House’s extension would ignore the Highway Trust Fund for another three months, driving the transportation program toward an increasingly steep cliff.

While common sense solutions are readily apparent—cut spending or find new revenue—this extension proposal came only after the House couldn’t come to agreement on a disastrous five-year bill that sought to make increased highway spending dependent on royalty and lease revenues from expanded offshore energy production. Not only would this make the Highway Trust Fund rely on speculative revenues, but it breaks the user-pay principle that has guided transportation spending over the last five decades. The Senate’s equally terrible bill (adopted last week but stalled in the House) is no better: the $109 billion, two-year proposal is filled with a smorgasbord of budget gimmicks that would siphon off ten years of largely general fund revenues to pay for only two years worth of Highway Trust Fund spending.

TCS has said before and we’ll say it again: Congress needs to get serious about the problems with the Highway Trust Fund and either cut spending to current revenue levels or find new revenues. Budget gimmicks, speculative drilling pay-fors, or never-ending extensions will not get us out of this mess.