House Passes Surface Reauthorization Bill
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On Thursday, July 1, the House of Representatives passed the INVEST in America Act, legislation comprising a reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs as well as reauthorizations of water infrastructure programs. The combined reauthorizations total $715 billion, including the $547 billion package passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 9. The surface reauthorization package provides $343 billion for roads, bridges and safety programs, $109 billion for transit, and $95 billion for passenger and freight rail. You can see the text of the bill here, a section by section here and fact sheets here.
The legislation passed the House along largely partisan lines, with only two Republicans voting in favor of the final bill. Throughout the process, Republicans expressed frustration over the partisan nature of the formulation and consideration of the legislation, as well as the investment in climate priorities. As an alternative, House Republicans offered the STARTER Act 2.0, which you can see here.
While the top-line numbers of the INVEST in America Act reflect a significant increase in surface transportation funding, the House bill includes a number of provisions concerning to the ready mixed concrete industry and omits several industry priorities. NRMCA continues to urge Congress to pass a robust, bipartisan surface reauthorization bill.
Typically, a House-passed bill and its corresponding Senate-passed bill will be negotiated by a conference committee and an agreement reached on a joint bill. At this point, it is unclear when the Senate will pass its surface reauthorization: two of three Senate committees have passed their provisions while the Banking Committee has yet to produce its title covering the most contentious portion of surface reauthorization, mass transit. It is further unclear whether a surface reauthorization will be considered alone or as part of a larger infrastructure package.
For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
