The financial crisis facing the Federal Highway Trust Fund has been known for months, even years. Yet the response from Congress to this long-term infrastruture problem was to wait until the last minute, then pass a short-term fix.

The trust fund, which gets money from the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel, was expected to be nearly depleted later this month.

The federal gasoline tax has not been raised in 21 years. But while no tax increase is popular, most people understand that it takes money to fix America's deteriorating roads and bridges. To anyone driving on the roads, the needs are obvious.

The solution from Congress to this serious, long-term crisis is a $11 billion patch that funds highway work only until next May.

Instead of getting money for roads from people using the roads, through an increase in the gas tax or tolls, Congress resorted to gimmicks. Under the just-passed plan, one source for highway funding will come from allowing “pension smoothing” so big companies can temporarily reduce money going into pensions, thus raising their taxable income and tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury. Another source of money will come from transfers from a fund designated to clean up leaking underground fuel storage tanks. A third source of money for the highway trust fund will come from diverting some U.S. Customs Service user fees.

In a hurry to start its five-week summer recess, Congress felt public pressure to do something about the highway trust fund. So lawmakers pulled off a stunt Thursday night, passing a short-term fix to highway funding.

The already low approval rating for Congress will only fall further with this last-minute vote for obvious budget tricks to address the long-term crisis this country faces in aging roads and bridges, which impact America's economic competitiveness as well as highway safety.

Although he's not the first president to attend to political fundraisers during a time of international crisis, President Barack Obama raised some eyebrows with his recent fundraising trip to California at a time of heightened international tensions. He left the White House late last month for money-raising trips to California just days after a commercial airliner was shot down over Ukraine and during intensified and deadly fighting in Gaza, between and Israel and Hamas.Obama's fundraising trip to Los Angeles and the Bay Area with its Silicon Valley millionaires was set up weeks before a Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine and before the escalated conflict in Gaza, but it didn't look good for the president to be in the Golden State schmoozing with wealthy donors while much of the world seemed to be falling apart.His defenders will note that while traveling on Air Force One, the president can be in instant contact with all of his advisers as well as world leaders. He can function just as effectively while on Air Force One as when he is in the White House.But images matter and it didn't look good to see the president jetting off to the West Coast for fancy dinner parties while Russian separatists in Ukraine were preventing the site of the airliner crash from being secured and the rockets flying between Israel and Gaza were killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including many children.Maybe there was nothing Obama could have done from his desk in the Oval Office, but leaving Washington for a weekend of fund raising events sent a message that bothered many voters.

State Sen. Elder Vogel will get a thumbs up from most motorists for his efforts to eliminate the requirement that “summer blend” gasoline must be sold in Western Pennsylvania. The summer blend fuel has been mandated for years, but it leads to higher gasoline costs for motorists.Summer blend gasoline is more expensive for refineries to produce and the added cost is passed on to motorists. Beyond the cost of the blend, the twice-a-year switchover from winter to summer and from summer to winter blends of gasoline requires significant work at refineries, which also increases the price of gasoline.Since 1999, summer blends of gasoline, which are designed to minimize VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that cause air polltion, have been mandated across much of the country. Because summer temperatures vary from cooler northern states to the hotter southern states, there are about 20 different summer blends that must be produced by refineries to supply different regions of the country.These different blends and the changeover periods at refineries are estimated to add 10 to 15 cents to every gallon of gasoline at the pump.Supporters of the move to eliminate summer blend gasoline here also note that the region's air is much cleaner than in the late 1990s, when the different blends were first required.Vogel said he noticed when traveling between his district, which includes part of Butler County, and Harrisburg that gasoline prices were higher in Western Pennsylvania than in the central part of the state. A big part of the reason for the price differences turned out to be summer blend gasoline.Lawmakers in Harrisburg passed the legislation in May, but the cost benefits will not be felt until next summer, when the seasonal blend gasoline will not have to be sold here.