Buttigieg Pushes Transportation Budget Amid Infrastructure Talks
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on senators to fund big-ticket transportation programs as congressional leaders continue to craft comprehensive infrastructure policy measures and prepare to consider a multiyear highway bill.
The secretary asked Senate funding leaders to adopt President Joe Biden’s budget request for transportation operations for fiscal 2022, and pointed to what he described as an urgent need to repair thousands of bridges, improve regional transit operations and expand broadband internet in rural parts of the country.
The White House is proposing $88 billion in fiscal 2022 for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Separately, the president is asking Congress to approve $1.7 trillion for climate change-centric infrastructure programs. Biden is calling his infrastructure proposal the American Jobs Plan, which would be backed primarily by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%.
“Our transportation infrastructure and systems are not sufficiently designed to mitigate or be resilient to the impacts of climate change. If we want to grow our economy, remain competitive and address the climate crisis, we need to take swift and bold action,” Buttigieg told members of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee June 16. The president’s fiscal 2022 budget specifically calls for a discretionary request of $25.7 billion for DOT, which would be a 14.8% increase for the department’s discretionary programs.
On May 25, five people pleaded guilty to staging two accidents in New Orleans with tractor-trailers in 2017, while obtaining fraudulent financial settlements totaling more than $282,000. Is the situation surrounding fraudulent settlements getting worse or better in 2021? Host Michael Freeze talks with TT's Eric Miller and Eleanor Lamb. Hear a snippet above, and get the full program by going to RoadSigns.TTNews.com.
House and Senate appropriations leaders, which manage the annual funding process for federal agencies, have indicated the transportation panels will begin considering their fiscal 2022 funding legislation as early as this summer. The committees’ objective, they explained, is to present the president with a final transportation funding bill prior to the start of the new fiscal year, which is Oct. 1.
The secretary continued: “The details of the president’s budget request advance the vision of the American Jobs Plan, and underscore our commitment to key priorities: Improving safety, building economic strength, addressing the climate crisis, advancing equity and supporting innovation.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged to work with appropriators to advance the fiscal 2022 funding measures, as well as proceed with bipartisan negotiations on infrastructure policy. Senate Democrats are considering various legislative avenues for passing Biden’s multitrillion dollar infrastructure plan. Potential legislation includes a must-pass multiyear highway policy bill, which House leaders will schedule for a floor vote prior to July 4. Senators are finalizing their version of the highway bill.
Schumer
Schumer and his leadership team signaled other ways to advance infrastructure policy, such as budget-centric measures that only require simple majorities for passage, tax policy updates, and bipartisan bills, which are referred to as stand-alone measures.
For instance, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), recently drafted an infrastructure framework that would be slightly less than the White House’s plan. The senators’ plan, however, would need a long-term funding program in order to gain the requisite support.
“We support this bipartisan framework that provides an historic investment in our nation’s core infrastructure needs without raising taxes. We look forward to working with our Republican and Democratic colleagues to develop legislation based on this framework to address America’s critical infrastructure challenges,” the senators said in a joint statement on June 16.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and his team welcome the debate in Congress on infrastructure policy. She reaffirmed legislative inaction is not an option for the president.
“We’re looking to see where we can find common ground on infrastructure and on areas where there’s overlap and agreement. We are still moving forward with a budget process, which is another path and a simultaneous path to get a range of these ideas passed into law,” she said this month. “We’re moving on both tracks at the same time.”
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
