House Holds Transportation Reauthorization Hearing

Visit www.HardhatsforHighways.org and Tell Congress to Solve the Transportation Funding Problem On Wednesday, the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure held their kickoff hearing on surface transportation reauthorization.  The current authorization expires on May 31.  The only witness was Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, who pitched the committee on the need for the administration’s reauthorization proposal, the GROW AMERICA Act.  There was consensus among Secretary Foxx, Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and the rest of the committee members that it is imperative that Congress pass a well-funded, multi-year reauthorization bill.  However, there were some differences in opinion on how to achieve that mutual goal.  Chairman Shuster said that any long-term bill needs to be fiscally responsible to pass this Congress, while Ranking Member DeFazio was skeptical of a funding source for a multi-year authorization being put in place before the end of May.  While several Republicans raised issues with the administration’s proposal to increase investments in mass transit, both Foxx and Chairman Shuster have defended transit continuing be a part of the Highway Trust Fund. The hearing highlighted the urgent need for Congress and the administration to come together and pass a well-funded multi-year surface transportation bill.  Failure to do so, as Secretary Foxx warned, will result in states cancelling or deferring projects due to the lack of funding predictability.  Further, Foxx said if a bill isn’t passed by the end of May, the U.S. Department of Transportation is planning on notifying states that the agency could begin rationing funds as early as July.  This rationing would result in delayed payments to contractors. AGC and our members continue to press Congress on the need to pass a bill and fix the Highway Trust Fund this spring.  Our most recent effort, a bipartisan House letter calling for an end to short-term extensions and supporting identifying revenue for a multi-year bill, has received support from nearly 300 members of Congress.  Please visit Hardhats for Highways and send a letter to your legislators telling them to fix the highway trust fund and save construction industry jobs. For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.