WASHINGTON - The Senate Finance Committee is raiding the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to help fund the $109 billion Senate transportation proposal, The Hill reports. Last week, NACS sent a letter to the committee asking that they keep the LUST Fund intact.

This week, the committee okayed funding offsets for its transportation bill to the tune of $9.6 billion that included $3.7 billion from LUST. The Highway Investment, Job Creation and Economic Growth Act of 2012 was crafted to respond to a House bill by Republicans that would attach infrastructure outlays to more oil drilling.

The committee approved the act with a 17-7 vote. The bill closes the nearly $13 billion shortfall between the Senate€™s transportation measure and the funds from federal trusts that pay for transportation costs.

"The American people are relying on us to provide the funds for their safety and mobility," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), adding that the Highway Trust Fund needed to be protected. "They need us to ensure the funds will be there to help create jobs at a time when the construction industry still faces unacceptably high unemployment."

The 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax has historically provided monies for the Highway Trust Fund. But that amount isn€™t enough to cover a gap created by the bill€™s two-year spending plan.

That€™s when the Senate turned to the LUST fund. Baucus pointed out that it was "important to note" that LUST funds also come from the federal gasoline tax. "Where we cannot find more revenue from the Highway Trust Fund€™s usual funding sources, we have focused on funding that bears a nexus to transportation," he said. "We have therefore explored funding from transportation and energy sources."

The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill soon.