“I supported the transportation bill the Senate passed tonight, the FAST Act, because it provides something we haven’t had in years – higher investment in America’s transportation infrastructure and the long-term certainty of a five-year bill”.
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It’s part of a compromise highway bill called the FAST Act that Congress overwhelmingly approved Thursday night.
The FAST Act includes over $6.8 billion in funding allocated to the state of Georgia through FY2020, which is $607 million above the funding levels set by 2012’s MAP 21 Act.
“It will certainly help fix America’s surface transportation infrastructure. His leadership was essential through tough negotiations that have led to a bill that will benefit all Americans”.
Carper has sought a gradual increase in the federal gas tax to help boost the dwindling Highway Trust Fund. Legislation he proposed in August would raise gas and diesel taxes by 4 cents a year for four years and then index them to inflation.
Carson, a member of the Emergency Management Subcommittee, said the bill included his amendment “to ensure that fire trucks and other heavy emergency vehicles are exempt from axle weight rules, allowing them to save time and money”. “All states and communities have significant infrastructure needs and they all need a long-term certainty to address them”, said Bill Shuster, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “At the same time, the bill would increase highway contract authority by $25 billion above the baseline over the next five years, or almost $65 billion if that amount of spending were extended out for ten years”.
With this bill Congress has moved away from the principle of user-based funding and has agreed to use revenue from outside the transportation arena, such as selling oil from the USA emergency stockpile and using surplus Federal Reserve funds. The money for those programs remains subject to annual spending decisions by Congress.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation is “very excited” about the bill, having operated since 2005 on short-term funding extensions and continuing resolutions passed by Congress, said Steve Salwei, transportation programs director. It puts an end to years of inaction that have stalled critical highway and bridge projects, including some in Mississippi.
Among the bill’s losers are large banks, which would receive lower dividends from the Federal Reserve, with the savings used for transportation programs.
The airline and cruise ship industries complained that their passengers are also being asked to pay for improvements unrelated to their travel. The bill also provides $200 million to help railroads install the safety technology that could have prevented the accident.
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For riders concerned about train safety, the measure could force Amtrak to pay $295 million – up from $200 million – in damages as a result of the May train derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight people.
