By Kerry O'Hare, WTS-DC 

At the time of this writing, May was shaping up to be very active on the infrastructure front. Congress is poised to consider a massive infrastructure package now that the Biden Administration has put forth its $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan. The American Jobs Plan includes funding for a wide range of physical infrastructure projects, including $621 billion for transportation programs (such as roads, bridges, ports, transit, rail) as well as water, broadband, electrification and the power grid, housing, schools, federal buildings, and other programs. The White House is presenting it as a plan that is fully paid for over 15 years through an increase in the corporate tax rate and a variety of measures to tax multinationals on money they earn and book overseas. 

In an effort to jump start negotiations with the White House and Democrats, a group of Senate moderate Republicans led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) offered a $568 billion infrastructure plan, which includes transportation, water, and rural broadband. This plan does not offer specifics on the pay-for, but does outline key funding principles. In addition, the bi-partisan Problem Solvers Caucus also unveiled its Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure white paper that outlined areas where Republicans and Democrats could find consensus such as modernizing existing user fees, incentivizing innovation through public private partnerships, and making infrastructure more resilient and investment more accountable to taxpayers. With several proposals on the table, discussions have been underway to identify common ground and move a plan forward through the legislative process. To that end, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Transportation Committee are planning to consider surface transportation reauthorization (FAST Act) legislation by Memorial Day. The current plan is to have that legislation wrapped into a much larger infrastructure package that could be considered in the House this summer. Decisions have not yet been made as to whether the package would be considered under ‘regular order’ or go through the budget reconciliation process, which would allow it to pass with a majority vote in the Senate as opposed to garnering the 60 votes that would be needed to overcome a filibuster.

Various members of the Biden Administration are actively traveling the country to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 relief plan and to promote the Administration's recovery plan, including the American Jobs Plan. On Friday, April 30, Vice President Harris provided remarks at a roundtable discussion on public transit and President Biden gave remarks in Philadelphia at an event to celebrate Amtrak's 50th anniversary. 

In April, The U.S. Department of Transportation welcomed newly confirmed Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg whose nomination passed the Senate 86-14. Trottenberg is no stranger to the department having served during the Obama Administration as the Under Secretary for Transportation Policy—the DOT’s third highest ranking official. The Biden Administration also submitted the following nominations to the Senate: Carlos Monje, Jr. to be the Under Secretary for Transportation Policy; Nuria Fernandez to be the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; Amit Bose to be the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration; Annie Petsonk to be the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs; and Robert Hampshire to be the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Research and Technology. WTS-DC extends its congratulations to Trottenberg and to the other nominees.

The U.S. Department of Transportation also published its $1 billion Notice of Funding Opportunity for the newly renamed Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants. The RAISE grants were formerly known as BUILD and before that TIGER. The criteria to be used to evaluate grant proposals are very similar to TIGER in that they will include safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness, state of good repair, innovation, and partnership. Of these criteria, DOT will prioritize projects that can demonstrate improvements to racial equity, reduce impacts of climate change, and create good paying jobs. The maximum grant award will be $25 million and no more than $100 million can be awarded to a single state. Applications are due by close of business on July 12, 2021.

Finally, on Friday, April 30, the Transit Security Administration (TSA) announced that they are extending the face mask requirement across all transportation networks through September 13, 2021. The requirement, which went into effect February 1, was initially set to expire May 11.

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