The House and Senate both voted Thursday to pass the bipartisan Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which authorizes $305 billion in spending over the next five years and streamlines the project approval process to reduce delays.
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President Barack Obama’s signature is expected today.
The FAST Act will provide about $300 billion over five years and includes environmental streamlining provisions that could speed up project delivery, according to the American Associations of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It doesn’t embody as much cash or last quite so long as many lawmakers & the Obama administration would have liked. The agreement still does not solve how Congress will pay for the bill long-term, as legislators acknowledge gas tax revenue, which supports the Highway Trust Fund, will not be enough.
The timing of the bill’s passage also was fortunate because the DOT had scheduled a December 16 bid opening that now should be able to proceed, he said. Louisiana’s Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and David Vitter also voted for the bill.
“This is more than a philosophical victory”, he said in a statement.
“Rebuilding our country’s infrastructure creates much-needed certainty for businesses looking to invest and for state legislatures working to unsnarl transportation gridlock keeping too many workers stuck on the road instead of home with their families”, Democratic Sen.
The bill boosts highway and transit spending and assures states that federal help will be available for major projects, including an extension of the proposed I-11 corridor between Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno.
Restores $1.6 billion a year in transit aid for seven high-density Northeast states: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and NY. The 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax, which hasn’t changed since 1993, will remain the same under the pending legislation.
To make up for the shortfall, the bill uses $70 billion in mostly budget gimmicks, including one that would move $53 billion from the Federal Reserve’s capital account to the general treasury.
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The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), however, is one interest group that is taking a dim view of the FAST Act. In addition, the FAST Act will transform the National Freight Policy provisions of the previous highway bill, MAP-21 into a new National Freight Program that will fund freight-related highway improvements. ARC is a regional economic development agency that funds projects to increase job opportunities, strengthen the capacity of the people of Appalachia, develop and improve Appalachia’s infrastructure, and build the Appalachian Development Highway System. “Increasing highway spending is not necessarily irresponsible, but it is when lawmakers provide only temporary funding to do so”.
