Support Action on Transportation in 2012
ASCE held a conference call briefing on transportation authorization on Friday, February 17, 2012.
Presenters:
ASCE President Andrew Herrmann, P.E., SECB, F.ASCE
The Honorable John Mica (R-FL), Chairman, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Brian Pallasch, CAE, ASCE Managing Director, Government Relations & Infrastructure Initiatives
To listen to a recording of the call, click here. (ASCE member-only content)
Contact your Representative today
The House of Representatives is set to begin consideration of the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) on the House floor on Wednesday, February 15. This legislation would reauthorize the nation’s surface transportation systems for $260 billion over five years.
While ASCE has reservations about some of the provisions in this legislation, we support advancing the legislation to move the reauthorization process forward in the 112th Congress. It is widely accepted that if H.R. 7 fails to pass the House of Representatives, transportation reauthorization legislation will not be brought to the House floor again before 2013.
Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to support passage of the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) when it is considered by the full House of Representatives starting February 15.
Read ASCE’s letter to House leaders regarding H.R. 7 and Senate leaders regarding S. 1813. ASCE and more than 20 Sections and Branches have also signed on to a letter with the U.S. Chamber along with over 1000 other organtizations urging members of Congress to pass a long term, multi year transportation bill now.
What to Say
Here is a list of talking points and background information to share with your fellow ASCE members at upcoming Section and Branch events.
Here is a list of talking points and background information to use as resource when engaging your elected officials.
Contact your Representative as soon as possible before February 17 and ask him or her to support passage of the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7). Your Representative especially needs to hear how lack of a transportation bill may be affecting you personally, or your local community or state. If transportation is not your area of practice, please share your experiences as a user of transportation systems in your local area.
If you have been in contact with your Federal elected official about this issue, please let us know by completing our grassroots feedback form.
Background
SAFETEA-LU, the current surface transportation authorization legislation, expired September 2009. Since then, the nation’s transportation systems have been operating on a series of extensions, the most recent of which expires March 31, 2012. Without the enactment of long-term reauthorization legislation, state Departments of Transportation cannot effectively plan for improvement projects and the state of our nation’s transportation systems continue to deteriorate from their already poor conditions. ASCE’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded the nation’s roads a D-, bridges a C and transit a D.
The House leadership introduced the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) on January 31 and Committee work on the legislation was completed on February 3.
ASCE is supportive of many provisions in H.R. 7, including policy reforms relating to reforming the Department of Transportation, streamlining project approval and delivery, the creation of strong performance measures, the increase of funding for the TIFIA grant program, and a study on the impact of increased truck weights on the nation’s infrastructure and public safety.
While we do have some concerns with other provisions included in the legislation (shift of mass transit from Highway Trust Fund to general fund; unclear offsets for included funding levels; elimination of discretionary program for projects of national and regional significance; cuts to Amtrak; changes to Highway Bridge Program), ASCE policy leaders agree that advancing transportation legislation to a conference committee with the Senate must happen in the 112th Congress, and H.R. 7 is likely the only chance at this. If H.R. 7 does not pass the House of Representatives, it is unlikely that another transportation authorization bill will be considered by the House before the end of the year, meaning there will not be a long-term authorization bill enacted before 2013. This will result in state Departments of Transportation continuing to delay projects and many civil engineers will struggle to find work as new projects will not be entering the pipeline.