Congress Passes FAST ACT to Improve Transportation

The House and Senate both voted Thursday to pass the bipartisan Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which authorizes $305 billion in spending over the next five years and streamlines the project approval process to reduce delays.

The bill was approved 359 to 65 in the House, and 83 to 16 in the Senate.

The bill now goes to President Obama.

But transportation lobbyist Laurie Maudlin said the additional funding will give the state only a little more than 10 percent of the $1 billion the Build Indiana Council estimates is needed in additional funding each year to adequately maintain state and local roads. The last time Congress passed a transportation funding bill lasting more than two years was in 2005.

The U.S. Congress passed multi-year surface transportation legislation on December 3, providing greater certainty for transportation infrastructure projects that are critical to all sectors of U.S. agriculture, said the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA).

Elizabeth Warren of MA was the only other Senate Democrat besides Carper to vote against the measure. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement.

The bill allocates $205 billion to be used toward highway spending and $48 billion toward other transit projects.

Wicker, who also was active in shaping the bill, said it includes more than $2.7 billion for investments in Mississippi.

The FAST Act includes $225.2 billion from the HTF for highway investment, a $20.2 billion increase over five years compared to FY 2015 funding.

“We greatly appreciate the support of our Congressional delegation, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration”, said Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) Executive Director Melinda McGrath. The main source of revenue for transportation is the trust fund, which comes mostly from the 18.4-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax. The shortfall has forced lawmakers to scramble to find about $15 billion per year to fund transportation priorities.

-Transfers $53 billion over 5 years from the bank’s capital account to help pay for transportation programs. Industry officials said the government’s methodology is unfair. “Each year, Arkansas produces over $80 billion goods and products that depend on our highways for delivery to customers, so it is vital that this money is returned to our state to improve our infrastructure”.

The FAST Act also provides for a “small” increase in funding the Transportation Alternative Program, or STP Setaside, the new name for the sub-program of the Safe Routes to School Surface Transportation Program. This bill ends Congress’s irresponsible trend of short-term Band-Aids and temporary extensions and provides long-term support for our nation’s vast transportation network.