On Tuesday (April 30), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) led a delegation of Congressional Democratic leaders to the White House to discuss a comprehensive infrastructure bill. Other attendees included: Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). On April 29, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Schumer sent a letter to President Trump outlining several priorities for a comprehensive infrastructure bill. To view the letter, please click here.

According to Congressional leaders, the meeting was very constructive. President Trump and Democratic leaders discussed working together on a $2 trillion infrastructure package. We expect the infrastructure package would include public transportation, other transportation investments, and other infrastructure investments, such as clean water and broadband infrastructure. This afternoon, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer issued a statement that notes, in part, “We agreed to meet again in three weeks, at which time we will hear the President’s ideas for how we would pay for such a package.” To view the statement, please click here.

APTA President and CEO Paul Skoutelas also issued a statement urging the leaders to take immediate action to address the nation’s infrastructure needs.

APTA Joins Americans for Transportation Mobility in Call for Infrastructure Investment

In advance of the meeting, APTA, together with dozens of other national organizations of the Americans for Transportation Mobility, sent a letter to President Trump and Congressional leaders urging them to act to fix our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. To view the letter, please click here.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Members’ Day Hearing

Tomorrow (May 1), the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I Committee) will hold a “Members’ Day” hearing on infrastructure investment and FAST Act reauthorization. We urge you to reach out to Members of Congress and urge them to submit testimony for the record if they are unable to testify tomorrow. The Committee will accept written testimony from Members of Congress until May 15.

APTA urges Congress to dramatically increase federal infrastructure investment levels in public transportation and passenger rail. Specifically, Congress must:

• Authorize a long-term surface transportation authorization act funded by dedicated, sustainable revenues (e.g., increasing federal motor vehicle user fees) to address the pending shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund (including the Mass Transit Account).
• Bring public transit systems to a state of good repair, and meet growing community demands for increased mobility choices (estimated cost: $145 billion over six years).
• As overall funding increases, restore the 40%-40%-20% capital investment ratio among the Capital Investment Grant, State of Good Repair, and Buses and Bus Facilities programs.
• Establish a new innovative mobility initiative to introduce cutting-edge technologies and integrate new service-delivery approaches and mobility options in the transit marketplace.

Lawmakers Sign Letter Addressing Concerns with BUILD Program

On April 4, 2019, 20 Members of the House, led by Representative Mark DeSaulnier, sent a letter to leaders of the House Committee on Appropriations expressing their strong support for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. The letter also expressed concerns that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent grant awards continue a recent pattern in which the program is oriented to traditional highway projects and away from multi-modal and transit-oriented projects. The letter stated, in part,

The BUILD program was created to support multi-modal and transit-oriented projects, projects of national significance, and projects that cut across administrative boundaries within the Department of Transportation…, and we are disappointed by the apparent lack of commitment to these types of projects….Over the last two rounds of BUILD awards, in FY2017 and FY2018, only 10% of funding went to transit projects, whereas in the previous three fiscal years, transit received between 28% and 40% of funding.”

To view the letter, please click here.