Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

The concerns about the debt crisis and looming fiscal cliff are appropriate and well-founded. However, the financial crisis that has received far too little attention is our infrastructure deficit, which is currently over $2 trillion and growing. It is hopelessly muddle-headed to think about further reductions in infrastructure investment as a way to decrease the deficit. Indeed, investing in critical improvements and repairs in transportation, energy, water, transit, and environmental cleanup is one of the best ways to accelerate the economic recovery and guarantee future prosperity.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has calculated a $2.2 trillion deficit between the investments needed for all infrastructure and what is currently allocated over the course of the next 5 years. This gap has been increasing as they periodically update their projections and represents a tangible threat to the current recovery and a serious peril to our future energy security, the environment, and our families and businesses.

Unlike the contentious issues that dominate the air

The federal gas tax is no longer adequate to maintain the transportation infrastructure in the U.S. That much is apparent to anyone who follows transportation policy in an even cursory fashion. The higher fuel efficiency standards that are driving this change are unquestionably a net positive for our country. They produce benefits ranging from increased health, water, and air quality to long term energy independence and security, as well as helping consumers save money. Since we are not going to roll back the advances we have made in fuel efficiency standards, we must chart a path forward to both create a sustainable future and to fully fund our transportation infrastructure. Testing concepts broadly across different constituencies and circumstances, such as the pilot project we are implementing in my home state of Oregon, leads us in the right direction.

Oregon actually established the nation’s first gas tax. Today, as in the rest of the country, the majority of funding for Oregon’s transportation infrastructure comes from the gas tax. However, more than a

One consequence of the House Republican effort to eliminate mass transit from the Highway Trust Fund may well be to undermine ability to ever get the resources we need for all our surface transportation needs.

Study after study has documented the woeful inadequacy of current funding levels to meet the needs of America's existing roads, bridges, and transit -- much less deal with the demands of future expansion, technology and growth. For the last decade there has been a growing consensus and unprecedented cooperation among civic and professional groups, business, labor, environment, and local governments to form a coalition to make sure America keeps moving.

Representatives of truckers, bicyclists, engineers, contractors - a diverse and rich roster of every conceivable interest that cares about the integrity of this program -- have come together with an increasingly shared vision and interest. They understand that transit is a critical partner along with roads, bridges, and railroads.

There is even a critical role for bike and pedestrian facilities in our