Infrastructure to Dominate T&I Panel’s First Hearing of 2017
Raising the gas tax, repatriating overseas corporate profits, and incorporating highway funding as part of an overhaul of the tax code are likely among the funding proposals stakeholders will address when the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meets Feb. 1.
FedEx Corp. Chairman and CEO Fred Smith, CEO of BMW of North America Ludwig Willisch and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka are scheduled to testify before the panel on how they would like the transportation network to function nationwide.
FedEx ranks No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
The committee’s chairman, Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), has acknowledged bridges in his home state and elsewhere need fixing to ensure the steady flow of freight.
According to a preview of the hearing the committee provided, a funding fix must be approved before a federal highway account becomes inoperable in fiscal 2021: “With the changing landscape of transportation infrastructure needs and demands, the federal government must identify and understand the best means of supporting a 21st century infrastructure that connects American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers to domestic and global markets.”
While Senate Democrats have proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure measure, Republican leaders have yet to present their version. During the campaign, President Trump’s advisers proposed investing a $1 trillion in infrastructure over 10 years by providing investors with tax credits.
The hearing begins at 10 a.m.
