Foxx 'Cautiously Optimistic' About Passage of Long-Term Highway Bill
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is “cautiously optimistic” that Congress will pass long-term transportation legislation in the near future.
“The latest extension, I believe it’s the 35th [since 2009], soon they’re going to get to my age,” the 44-year-old Foxx said during an Oct. 29 conference call with reporters. “The fact that they made it so short is an indication of the optimism on both sides of the Hill that something can get done in relatively short order. My only admonition is that it be big enough to make a difference in the lives of the American people. We’ve got to get away from ‘Pothole Nation.’ We’ve got to get away from having longer travel times and having the folks that really pay the bills getting less bang for the buck.”
It appears likely that a multiyear highway bill will reach the House floor next week. The House Rules Committee has scheduled a Nov. 2 meeting to outline parameters for debate on a highway bill. On Oct. 22, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee gave unanimous backing to the bill. The full Senate passed its version in July.
“I’m hopeful that the bill is big enough to make a dent in the growing challenges in the infrastructure in our country,” Foxx said. “There are elements of good stuff in what the Senate passed and what the House passed. [I] also [have] some concerns about safety provisions finding their way into a final bill. I also have concerns about the size and length of the ultimate bill, because I know that so many state departments of transportation and local project sponsors need certainty and need that certainty over a long term, and they need more dollars to get done what the American people expect.”
