Congressional Democrats Criticize Administration’s Infrastructure Grants
The new grants program at the U.S. Department of Transportation that prioritizes projects backed by private capital would hinder efforts to revamp the country’s infrastructure, Democrats on the House committee on transportation said this week.
Agencies need to pitch projects capable of incentivizing private sector funding to qualify for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, or INFRA, grants that were announced in June. The grants replaced the freight-centric FASTLANE grants and will be “using innovative approaches to improve the necessary processes for building significant projects,” according to DOT.
Also, agencies that had sought FASTLANE funding must resubmit applications if they intend to vie for an INFRA grant.
“We are concerned that states and project sponsors have to resubmit their [fiscal] 2017 applications, at significant expense. The department is sitting on hundreds of applications submitted for the [fiscal] 2017 round of funding. It is difficult to believe that among all of these projects, the department could not find any large projects worthy of a grant award,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), on July 27.
“Ultimately, very few projects will be selected to receive funding, but all applicants will have to invest substantial time and expense under this exercise,” the Democrats added.
The Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies, or FASTLANE, grants aimed at freight projects were established by the 2015 FAST Act highway law.
