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By Cecile Entleitner, Associate, Blakey & Agnew
On May 26, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee unanimously approved its surface transportation reauthorization proposal. The bipartisan legislation, titled the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021, closely resembles the America's Transportation Infrastructure Act, a reauthorization bill that was unanimously approved by the Committee in the 116th Congress but did not advance. The five-year, $304 billion proposal represents a 34 percent increase in funding for road, highway, and bridge programs above FAST Act levels. The EPW bill increases funding for the INFRA grant program and the freight formula program and raises the caps on non-highway or multimodal freight projects for both programs. Currently, up to 10 percent of freight formula funding may be awarded to multimodal projects annually and an aggregate of $500 million over five years in INFRA funding. This legislation would raise these caps to 30 percent of total program funding, making approximately $2.15 billion available for multimodal projects under the freight formula program and $1.44 billion under INFRA over five years.
Jurisdiction over surface transportation funding and policy is divided between several Senate committees, which each must draft their respective titles to advance a complete reauthorization package to the Senate floor. The current FAST Act extension authorizing transportation programs expires on September 30, by which time either a multi-year reauthorization or another short-term extension must be passed.
House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Democrats subsequently released their own five-year reauthorization proposal, titled the INVEST in America Act. The bill is modeled after legislation introduced by the same name in the 116th Congress, which passed the House last year as part of a larger infrastructure package but did not advance in the then-Republican controlled Senate. The INVEST in America Act would provide a total of $547 billion over five years for investments in roads, bridges, and transit systems, with a focus on infrastructure resiliency, emissions reduction, and other climate provisions. It does not include any new revenue mechanisms, which would need to be identified by the House Ways & Means Committee. After a 19-hour markup on June 9, the bill was approved by the T&I Committee following a vote of 38-26, with two Republicans joining Democrats in support of the bill. T&I Republicans generally expressed frustration over the lack of bipartisan negotiations prior to the INVEST in America Act's introduction, calling it the majority's "My Way or the Highway Bill 2.0." They objected to the size and scope of the proposal, its extensive environmental provisions, and argued the legislation failed to incorporate many Republican infrastructure priorities.
The INVEST in America Act provides approximately $8.7 billion over five years for the freight formula program and eliminates the existing 10 percent cap on program funding available to non-highway projects. The legislation would extend the INFRA grant program for one year and then transition to the Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS), a discretionary grant program with broad eligibility for large highway, transit, and passenger and freight rail projects that cannot be funded through annual apportionments or other discretionary sources. The PNRS program provides
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$3 billion annually for fiscal years 2023-2026, with a $1 billion annual set-aside for bridge improvement projects. Non-highway projects must make a significant improvement to the movement of freight on the National Highway System and federal funds are only available to portions of the project that provide a public benefit.
The bill also provides $5.66 billion for 1,473 Member Designated Projects, or earmarks. For fiscal year 2022, the INVEST in America Act extends current FAST Act funding levels and provides an additional $14.34 billion in contract authority distributed to states for formula programs, a portion of which will be used for the earmarked highway and transit projects in each state. If, by October 1, 2025, less than 10 percent of the funding reserved for a project has not been obligated, the state may apply to transfer the unobligated funds to other projects in the same metropolitan planning area or political subdivision of the state.
At the same time, the White House and GOP lawmakers are still engaged in ongoing negotiations over a separate economic recovery and infrastructure package. In March, the Biden-Harris Administration announced its American Jobs Plan, calling for $2.3 trillion in new spending for a broad range of infrastructure investments to be funded through corporate tax increases. Following several meetings with President Biden and White House aides, Senate Republicans, led by EPW Ranking Member Capito (R-WV), countered with a proposed $928 billion infrastructure package over eight years paid for through user fees and by repurposing unspent funding from enacted COVID-19 relief aid. However, this total included existing baseline funding levels and approximately $257 billion in new spending above current FAST Act reauthorization levels – whereas the most recent White House counteroffer totaled $1.7 trillion, all of which would be new spending.
After these talks concluded without reaching an agreement, the Administration turned to a new group of bipartisan Senators, which includes several moderate Democrats and Republicans. As part of this latest round of negotiations, President Biden will reportedly request at least $500 billion in new spending above current funding levels. Additionally, a separate group of bipartisan House lawmakers – the House Problems Solver Caucus, consisting of 58 centrist House Members – introduced their draft proposal. The Building Bridges: A Bipartisan Physical Infrastructure Framework would provide approximately $1.2 trillion over eight years, $762 billion of which would be new spending. Among other provisions, the framework includes: $518 billion for highways, roads and safety; $64 billion for bridge investment; $26 billion for waterways and ports; and $40 billion for large multimodal investments, including freight.
Blakey & Agnew, LLC is a public affairs and
communications consulting firm based in
Washington, DC.
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