According to a joint statement from members of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, “great progress” has been made in the push to pass the reauthorization of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).
A statement was signed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee; Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), ranking member of the committee; Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee; and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), ranking member of the subcommittee. The four expressed their support for the bill, which has also been receiving “tremendous support from businesses, workers, and the American people for a transportation bill that leverages our federal dollars while maintaining a responsible fiscal path.”
The statement goes on to say that, even though the sentors and representatives do not share identical political views, they have found “common ground in the belief that building highways, bridges, and transportation systems is an important responsibility of the federal government.” Some of the highlights of the current legislation include:
- Funds programs at current levels to maintain and modernize our critical transportation infrastructure;
- Eliminates earmarks;
- Consolidates numerous programs to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative and wasteful programs;
- Consolidates numerous programs into a more focused freight program that will improve the movement of goods;
- Creates a new section called America Fast Forward, which strengthens the TIFIA program to stretch federal dollars further than they have been stretched before; and
- Expedites project delivery without sacrificing the environment or the rights of people to be heard.
SAFETEA-LU expired at the end of September 2009 and has been extended a half-dozen times by Congress as legislators sought a long-term funding solution for the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
