The Highway Users of America want Congress to appropriate funds above levels set out in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) for highways and bridges.
In a letter to the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, the group said it disagreed with President Joe Biden’s FY 2023 Budget Request because it suggested transportation funding increases over IIJA levels should be limited to programs other than highways.
“The 23rd (and most recent) edition of the USDOT’s Conditions and Performance Report on Highways, Bridges and Transit identifies a $786.4 billion backlog of highway and bridge investments,” the group wrote in its April 20 letter to U.S. Reps. David Price (D-NC) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the subcommittee. “Against that background, we respectfully disagree with the Administration’s FY 2023 budget proposal insofar as it suggested that transportation funding increases by appropriators over IIJA levels should be for programs other than highways.”
The Congressmen said the proposed budget would reduce highway and bridge investments.
“That means reducing highway and bridge investments by some $2.4 billion compared to FY 2022,” the group wrote. “Instead, additional funding for transportation over IIJA levels should be provided and must include at least the level of support for highways and bridges provided in FY 2022. That balanced approach would more broadly serve the public interest, including the public interest in improving highways, by far the most widely used transportation mode.”