The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday issued a joint statement on their progress in developing highway and transit reauthorization legislation, titled Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21).
EPW Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was joined by Ranking Republican James Inhofe (Okla.), Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and Subcommittee Ranking Republican David Vitter (La.), in issuing the statement, which included the following:
“It is no secret that the four of us represent very different political views, but we have found common ground in the belief that building highways, bridges, and transportation systems is an important responsibility of the federal government, in cooperation with state and local governments and the private sector.
We are working to maximize states' ability to plan long term and make wise infrastructure investments. Here are some of the highlights of our legislation:
- Funds programs at current levels to maintain and modernize our critical transportation infrastructure;
- Eliminates earmarks;
- Consolidates numerous programs to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative and wasteful programs;
- Consolidates numerous programs into a more focused freight program that will improve the movement of goods;
- Creates a new section called America Fast Forward, which strengthens the TIFIA program to stretch federal dollars further than they have been stretched before; and
- Expedites project delivery without sacrificing the environment or the rights of people to be heard.