CAGTC Members,
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held two hearings this week. On Tuesday, May 16 the EPW Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing titled “Leveraging Federal Funding: Innovative Solutions for Infrastructure.” Witnesses included the Honorable Eric Garcetti, Mayor, City of Los Angeles, Chair, U.S. Conference of Mayors Infrastructure Task Force; Tim J. Gatz, Executive Director, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority; Geoffrey S. Yarema, Partner, Nossaman LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Kevin DeGood, Director of Infrastructure Policy, Center for American Progress; and Aubrey L. Layne Jr., Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Full video and written testimony can be found online here.
On Wednesday, May 17 the full EPW Committee held a hearing titled “Improving America’s Transportation Infrastructure: The Road Forward.” The Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, was the only witness for this hearing. Full video and written testimony can be found online here.
Full hearing summaries for both can be found here and here. Top takeaways from each hearing can be found below:
“Leveraging Federal Funding: Innovative Solutions For Infrastructure,” May 16:
- Both the Republicans and Democrats agreed that an infrastructure bill can and should be passed by this Congress.
- Both Republicans and Democrats on the committee agreed that public-private partnerships (P3s) are not a silver bullet, but many Members noted that P3s have the possibility to be “silver BBs.”
- Witnesses and subcommittee members were in agreement that existing funding levels must be maintained, not replaced, by a potential infrastructure bill, and that existing programs were useful tools that should not be discarded.
“Improving America’s Transportation Infrastructure: The Road Forward,” May 17:
- Secretary Chao informed the Committee that the Administration will release a set of principles for the infrastructure bill before the end of May and that she expects a full bill will be released in the third quarter of 2017.
- Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle acknowledged the importance of infrastructure investment and agreed that the Federal government must play a role in its funding.
- Both Senators and Secretary Chao agreed that P3s are only one tool in a larger tool box for infrastructure investment. Secretary Chao reported that the infrastructure bill will have $200 billion in direct federal investment, meant to leverage private sector funds to generate a total of $1 trillion in investments.
- Secretary Chao reported that USDOT is looking at FASTLANE criteria as well as permit streamlining.
Thank you!
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1444 Eye St N.W.
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 828-9100
tradecorridors.org