The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 Sept. 19 to advance its $74.3 billion FY2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill, which provides funding to improve transportation infrastructure development, housing […]
09-19-2019 The House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing Sept. 11 to explore strategies to address congestion and the financing of America’s roads. The hearing, which addressed such topics […]
09-12-2019 The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved 21-0 a substitute amendment to its surface transportation bill S. 2302, 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019,鈥� marking the first step in reauthorizing the surface transportation law set to expire in 2020.
07-30-2019Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) urged lawmakers to pass a five-year, formula-based surface transportation bill paid for by highway users, including drivers of alternative fuel vehicles, during a July 10 hearing on the need for a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization.
07-11-2019 The abrupt ending May 22 to an infrastructure meeting between the White House and Congressional Democrats means there probably won’t be any new revenues for the surface transportation reauthorization that Congress must pass by next fall, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told Politico.
05-23-2019 The House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on March 13 held its first hearing focused on reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund. The FAST Act, which provided $281 billion for federal surface transportation programs, expires on September 30, 2020.
03-14-2019 President Donald Trump renewed his call for a major infrastructure investment during his State of the Union address on Jan. 5, but offered no details on his plans as he urged Republicans and Democrats to work together to pass legislation to rebuild and revitalize the nation鈥檚 crumbling infrastructure.
02-06-2019 The partial federal government shutdown, now in its third week, has started to impact state departments of transportation (DOTs) and is delaying the start of new projects.
01-08-2019 The House Republican conference on Nov. 30 unanimously voted to elect Rep. Sam Graves to be ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 116th Congress. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) will serve as Chairman.
11-30-2018 Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who is set to become Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 116th Congress, said Nov. 6 that a major infrastructure package funded by real dollars would be his first order of business in January. Current surface transportation law is set to expire in 2020 and infrastructure is largely viewed as one issue where bipartisan agreement will be possible next year. Of importance to truckstops and travel plazas, Rep. DeFazio spoke about the shortcomings of the $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan put forth by the Administration in early 2018, saying it was full of 鈥減retend stuff鈥� such as privatization and asset recycling, which could very easily lead to tolling and rest area commercialization.
11-07-2018 Tolls represent a regressive double tax that disproportionately hurts lower income drivers and will create significant disruptions for local communities, a representative of the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates said in a recent interview with National Public Radio (NPR).
01-22-2018