Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced Tuesday the Transportation Empowerment Act, designed to give states more control over their infrastructure spending by phasing out the federal gas tax.
“Having a 21st-century infrastructure means empowering states with greater flexibility to prioritize the infrastructure needs of their local communities,” Rubio said. “The Transportation Empowerment Act offers a viable solution to address the fiscal cliff facing the Highway Trust Fund, and will allow donor states, like Florida, to receive a better return on our infrastructure investments.”
Lee said the federal government’s Highway Trust Fund is broken and needs to be addressed.
“Different states have different values and needs,” Lee said. “State and local governments are perfectly capable of reflecting those values and meeting those needs with unique, customized transportation policies without the interference of politicians, bureaucrats, and special interests in Washington. The Interstate Highway System was completed decades ago. It is just an outdated system that is long overdue for reform.”
Cruz said the bill is a critical step in returning authority to the states.
“The strength and growth of American infrastructure is necessary to our economic future, and they are best achieved when we allow communities to assign resources according to their own needs, not far-off bureaucrats in Washington,” Cruz said.