House Democrats unveil $547 billion transportation bill, a boost that highlights partisan divide - The Washington Post

Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unveiled a $547 billion transportation funding package Friday that would ramp up spending on rail and transit, while encouraging states to repair existing roads rather than build new ones.

The biggest chunk of the bill is $343 billion for road and bridge construction, as well as highway safety, a boost of more than 50 percent over the last transportation bill Congress passed in 2015. It also calls for $109 billion for transit and $95 billion for rail — including a tripling of funding to Amtrak.

Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the committee, said the proposed legislation embodies a core piece of President Biden’s infrastructure plans, “seizing this once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our transportation planning out of the 1950s and toward our clean energy future.”

Beyond authorizing federal spending, the five-year bill seeks to overhaul rules on how states and other transportation agencies can use the money, putting environmental goals at the forefront and seeking to curb the nation’s dominance of car travel.

The bill underscores a partisan divide on transportation policy, with Democrats and Republicans at odds on the federal role of supporting transit and the extent to which transportation spending should be targeted at combating climate change.

“The benefits of transformative investments in our infrastructure are far-ranging: We can create and sustain good-paying jobs, many of which don’t require a college degree, restore our global competitiveness, tackle climate change head-on, and improve the lives of all Americans through modern infrastructure that emphasizes mobility and access, and spurs our country’s long-term economic growth,” DeFazio said.

President Biden and Congress have a narrow window this summer to pass legislation on infrastructure and other issues before a potential debt limit standoff. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

The Democratic bill doesn’t propose a way to pay for itself, which is typical, but the spending it outlines is far in excess of what the government is forecast to collect in taxes on gasoline and diesel that have historically been used to fund transportation.

The committee is scheduled to consider the bill Wednesday, a date the White House says it’s watching as Biden negotiates with Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), over a broader infrastructure deal. The two sides are split on how much to spend and how to pay for it, but Biden and Capito are scheduled to talk Friday after meeting at the White House earlier in the week.

The House bill adopts some of the ideas Biden set out in his initial $2.3 trillion proposal. It includes a $3 billion fund aimed at undoing harms caused by urban highway construction, which often divided Black neighborhoods. It also would invest $4 billion in electric vehicle-charging infrastructure.

The proposed transit funding is aimed tackling a maintenance backlog, expanding service and promoting the development of housing near transit hubs. Some rail funding would be used to spur development of high-speed rail. In both cases, spending is aimed at reducing congestion on roads by giving people alternate ways to get around and cutting carbon emissions.

Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), chairman of the committee’s rail panel, said the bill would “bring America’s aging rail infrastructure into the 21st century.”

The bill is also set to include $14.8 billion for earmarks, projects backed by individual members of Congress. That practice was scrapped a decade ago, but it has been revived by House leaders who argue that lawmakers understand the particular needs of their communities.

This story will be updated.

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House Democrats unveil $547 billion transportation bill, a boost that highlights partisan divide - The Washington Post
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