Leaders in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee formally introduced legislation to reauthorize surface transportation spending.
The legislation, the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th (BUILD America 250) Act, would invest in American roads, bridges, transit, rail transportation, and highway and motor carrier safety programs. The bipartisan, five-year surface transportation reauthorization provides the largest amount ever invested in American bridges and focuses on proven surface transportation infrastructure programs while investing in passenger rail, rail safety, and transportation project efficiency. Lawmakers said it also included the first ever autonomous commercial motor vehicle framework and added fees for electric vehicles to the Highway Trust Fund – the fund’s first new stream of revenue in 30 years.
“I’m proud to introduce what I believe will be the most important surface transportation bill in decades – the BUILD America 250 Act,” T&I Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) said. “This bill provides the largest investment in America’s bridges in our history, begins shoring up the Highway Trust Fund, cuts federal red tape, promotes transportation innovation and safety, allows states the flexibility to address their unique infrastructure challenges.”
Graves introduced the legislation with U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA), T&I Ranking Member; David Rouzer (R-NC), chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee; Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Highways and Transit Subcommittee ranking member; and Daniel Webster (R-FL), Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee chair.
“You can’t have a big-league economy with little-league infrastructure,” Larsen said. “The BUILD America 250 Act makes key investments in the nation’s transportation – from restoring aging bridges and repairing crumbling roads to building out safe, accessible transit and bike infrastructure. A commitment to bipartisan lawmaking means finding compromise; while this bill does not include every priority, I am committed to building on the last bipartisan infrastructure law by creating good-paying transportation jobs, growing the economy and safely transporting people and goods across the country by road and rail.”