Senate gives Highway Trust Fund $8B we don't have

September 11, 7:13 PMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

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Gee, I've written a lot about this lately.  Monday was the House Transportation Committee's warnings that the Highway Trust fund was going into the red.   Tuesday was a post on the new FY2008 federal deficit revision ($407B).  And today we have news tying both stories together:

The U.S. Senate approved an $8 billion bailout of a U.S. trust fund that finances highway construction, which is due to run out of money this month.

Senators backed the measure on a voice vote. The federal government may need to temporarily cut payments to states as early as next week because of the shortfall, due in part to a drop in fuel taxes as record gasoline prices damp road travel, according to the U.S. Transportation Department. (Link) 

Make that federal deficit $487B now.  Folks, we're out of dough.