This week, AGC continued to push back on outside groups like Heritage Action and Club for Growth, who have been pushing a legislative proposal that would severely cut federal funding for state highway capital investments. The proposal known as the Transportation Empowerment Act (TEA Act) would decrease the federal gas tax from 18.4 cents per gallon to 3.7 cents per gallon over five years and result in states either raising their gas taxes or face steep cuts in their transportation programs.
In response to the proposal, the AGC co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) released an analysis illustrating how much states rely on federal funding for the highway capital programs. The analysis, on average, shows states rely on the federal funding for 52 percent of these investments. In addition to the TCC release, AGC joined with the American Trucking Association and 36 other national organizations in sending a letter opposing any efforts in Congress to reintroduce the TEA Act. The bill was sponsored in the last Congress by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tom Graves (R-Ga.), but has yet to be introduced in the 114th Congress.
“Devolution” was also a topic at Tuesday’s House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing. Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) heard from representatives of the National Governors Association, National League of Cities, and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). All three witnesses, including the Republican Governor of North Carolina, expressed their opposition to a devolution proposal, such as the TEA Act.
AGC will continue to focus on preventing the TEA Act or any other “devolution” proposals from gaining support in the House and Senate.
For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892. Return to Top