Highway Bill Clears EPW Committee
(May 19, 2014) – On May 15, several days after its introduction, the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act(S. 2322) cleared the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee by voice vote.
The six-year, $262 billion highway funding blueprint now awaits approval by the full Senate. However, before the upper chamber can act, the Senate Finance Committee (jurisdiction over revenue), the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee (jurisdiction over transit) and the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee (jurisdiction over rail and road safety) must complete their respective portions of the legislation.
“AED (Associated Equipment Distributors) is encouraged by the progress being made on the highway reauthorization bill, but there is considerable work to be done and our time is running out,” said AED President & CEO Brian McGuire. “We need a multiyear highway and transit bill, we need a long-term funding solution, and we need it fast. Not only are thousands of construction equipment industry jobs at stake if the program collapses, but failure to act now will jeopardize the safety of our nation’s transportation infrastructure. It’s up to everyone else on Capitol Hill to step up to the plate and help get the job done.”
Specifically, S. 2322 authorizes growth in the federal-aid highway program from $38.44 billion in 2015 to $42.59 billion in 2020. Of course, these modest funding levels are contingent on the Senate Finance Committee finding approximately $100 billion in new revenues to make up for the Highway Trust Fund’s (HTF) shortfall.
An AED-commissioned report by Professor Stephen Fuller of George Mason University found that each dollar in government highway spending creates an average of 6.4 cents in equipment market opportunity (EMO) (i.e., sales, lease, rent and product support). Consequently, the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act is estimated to provide more than $15.5 billion in EMO through fiscal year 2020.
The legislation also contains federal highway program reforms to speed project delivery, reduce delays and increase transparency. While the original bill contained $1 billion for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (TIFIA), an amendment was accepted during markup to reduce that authorization to $750 million.
AED is now encouraging the other committees of jurisdiction over surface transportation legislation to act while urging the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee to move forward on highway reauthorization as soon as possible.
Click here to urge your senators to support the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act.
Click here to read AED’s MAP-21 Reauthorization letter of support.
Click here to view the EPW Committee’s legislative summary.
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