Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx continued the administration’s press for Congress to pass a transportation funding bill during a visit to Florida on May 19.
“The American people want better roads and bridges to get them safely where they need to go, and projects like the Tampa Interstate Study are why we need Congress to pass a long-term transportation bill,” Foxx said in a statement.
The secretary toured construction sites where a series of improvements are being made around Interstate 4 near state Route 60 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
The interstate improvement program is a $1.8 billion project, of which $941 million is federal funding.
Foxx, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have taken to the road in recent weeks to sell the administration’s $302 billion transportation reauthorization plan.
The plan would generate revenue for four years via corporate tax reform that would include repatriating profits American corporations keep overseas.
Last week, the Senate approved the highway portion of its reauthorization bill — a six-year measure that would maintain current spending levels plus inflation. Under the Senate bill, highway spending would average $43 billion a year for six years.
The Senate bill, however, is largely unfunded. Revenue from the federal fuel tax that supports the Highway Trust Fund lags behind the spending figure.
The House has not yet produced a reauthorization bill to replace MAP-21, the two-year spending law that expires Sept. 30.
