'This will help us, absolutely,' Shreck said. The House, following action by the Senate on Wednesday night, transferred $8 billion from the nation's general fund and added it to the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for federal highway and bridge additions and repairs. President Bush is expected to sign the bill. 'I am relieved that Congress was able to pass a short-term fix for the crisis looming over the Highway Trust Fund. Revenues from the federal gasoline tax continue to decline as people drive less, so we must find a different way of fully funding the trust fund,' said U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The bill means Michigan will receive a total of about $1 billion for its federal highways and bridges in fiscal year 2009. The vote was 376 to 29, far more than meeting the two-thirds vote required for passage of a bill brought up under a fast-track procedure known as suspension of the rules. Opponents complained that the bill was only a temporary fix and that more dramatic action is needed to ensure money is available for the nation's highway system. Others voiced concern that earmarks for pet projects put in the nation's long-term highway bill passed in 2005 siphoned off money that could instead be used for highway projects. 'Part of the reason we are having to steal money from the general fund and fund the Highway Trust Fund is because we just went hog-wild back in 2005,' said U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Among earmarks that Flake cited was $1.4 million for the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. But supporters such as U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the $8 billion had been taken out of the Highway Trust Fund in 1998 and put into the general fund, meaning that the $8 billion infusion was actually a simple repayment. 'There is no better way to spend the dollars of the American taxpayer than in infrastructure for the future generation,' said Young. 'It creates employment today. It creates employment in the future. And it makes our economy strong forever.' The federal Highway Trust Fund is funded through gas taxes. A $3 billion shortfall had already been projected for fiscal year 2009, but the gap widened when motorists scaled back travel in response to record high gas prices. In addition to fewer tax dollars being collected at the gas pump, federal dollars aren't going as far, said MDOT's Shreck. Prices of concrete, asphalt and steel have skyrocketed, he said, making projects more costly. You can reach Deb Price at [email protected] or (202) 662-8736.