Last week, U.S. Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) said that new transportation guidance from President Joe Biden’s administration reinforces policies that discourage critical road and highway expansion projects instead of prioritizing them.
In a statement, Graves, the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Davis, the ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, said the Biden administration ignored requests from House Republicans to rescind previous policies they felt discourages investment into new roads, a policy they said was in defiance of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“Today, the Biden Administration doubled down on discouraging states from building new roads they may need, despite this policy being in direct conflict with what Congress intended in the recent infrastructure law,” the Congressmen said in the statement.
The FHA said on April 21 that it had released $6.4 billion in formula funding for states and localities over the next five years for the administration’s new Carbon Reduction Program (CRP), which will help states develop carbon reduction strategies and address climate change. States can use the funds to expand transportation options for American families that will help them save on gas purchases. The CRP program funds a wide range of projects, the FHA said, from installing infrastructure to support electrification efforts to constructing Bus Rapid Transit corridors to facilitating micro-mobility and biking.
In March, Graves and Davis led Republicans in requesting guidance from the Federal Highway Administration be rescinded. In their view, the Carbon Reduction Program Guidance urges states to pursue projects more in line with the Biden administration’s policies on climate change, transportation equity, and non-motorized transportation instead of new road and highway projects.
“Instead of heeding Republicans’ calls for the Federal Highway Administration to rescind its December guidance, which they know is causing confusion among states, today’s announcement echoes the Administration’s earlier guidance and blatant misapplication of the IIJA,” Graves and Davis said. “The FHWA, Department of Transportation, and Biden Administration need to stop prioritizing their woke agenda.