President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with Democrat and Republican members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Thursday to discuss the need to invest in American infrastructure.
The discussion follows a similar meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators from the Environment and Public Works Committee last month and is part of an ongoing effort to discuss infrastructure with members of Congress and other stakeholders, the White House said.
“The Administration leaders were grateful to hold a constructive conversation about delivering infrastructure and jobs for American communities and to exchange ideas that further inform President Biden’s economic recovery plans to build back better for working families,” the White House said in a release.
The group discussed a shared commitment to working across the aisle to invest in rural, urban and suburban infrastructure that will create good-paying, union jobs and support the country’s economic recovery, as well as modernizing existing infrastructure to withstand the impacts of climate change.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, thanked the Administration for starting the talks.
“I thank President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Buttigieg for convening today’s bipartisan meeting in the Oval Office to chart a path forward on an infrastructure bill. It is a critically important conversation to have, and timely as I intend to move a surface transportation reauthorization bill through the Committee this spring,” DeFazio said in a statement. “I made sure to point out to the President that I was wearing my Route 66 socks as reminder we are still living off the legacy of President Eisenhower to the detriment of our safety, our economy, our communities, and our environment. It is time to get out of the 1950s and move forward on a transformational infrastructure bill that puts millions of people to work building the infrastructure of the 21st century and beyond all while putting our country on a path toward zero pollution.”
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), ranking member of the committee, said Republicans support infrastructure investment but hope the White House will keep in mind their issues.
“Today, we made clear that in order for infrastructure efforts to be successful, the Administration and the Majority need to consider Republican priorities. It cannot be a ‘my way or the highway’ approach like last Congress,” Graves said. “First and foremost, a highway bill cannot grow into a multi-trillion dollar catch-all bill, or it will lose Republican support. We have to be responsible, and a bill whose cost is not offset will lose Republican support.”
Graves said the bill needs to focus on fundamental transportation needs, like roads and bridges, and that the bill has to focus on rural transportation needs.
“Last, equity for rural America is a top Republican priority. Rural infrastructure needs cannot be left behind, and we cannot continue to allow a growing disparity between resources provided to urban and rural communities, as we saw in the $30 billion transit funding portion of the Majority’s recent COVID-19 package,” he said. “Republicans are eager to work on bipartisan solutions, but it will take a willingness to compromise and a good faith effort to consider Republican priorities. We all have the same goal of improving America’s transportation infrastructure, but we cannot overlook broad sections of the country in the process.”