Government

State Budgets Strengthen, But Not Yet to Pre-Recession Level

But he says that cuts in federal discretionary spending “might induce the desire for more transportation-like bonds.”

In terms of states' general funds, Crippen says, “There’s a squeeze from virtually every side.”

He says federal aid is down, Internet commerce is hurting state sales taxes and local governments, whose property taxes have been hit hard by the falloff in housing values, are seeking help from state governments.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.