Today, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), released text of the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act.
This bill is a key component of the Moving Forward Framework that House Democrats, led by Chair DeFazio, released earlier this year. The committee will consider the INVEST in America Act at a committee markup scheduled for Wednesday, June 17. The current surface transportation authorization—the FAST Act—expires Sept. 30.
The House T&I Committee says the INVEST in America Act—which enables the completion of critical projects through long-term, sustainable funding and is fueled by American workers and ingenuity thanks to strong Buy America provisions and labor protections—authorizes $494 billion over five years to address some of the country’s most urgent infrastructure needs, including:
- Tackling the massive backlog of roads, bridges, and transit systems in need of repair and replacement
- Building resilient infrastructure that will withstand the impacts of climate change and extreme weather
- Designing streets that are safer for all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists
- Putting the U.S. on a path toward zero emissions from the transportation sector by prioritizing carbon pollution reduction, investing in public transit, and the national rail network, building out fueling infrastructure for low- and zero-emission vehicles, and deploying technology and innovative materials
- Sharply increasing funding for public transit options in urban, suburban, and rural areas in order to integrate technology and increase routes and reliability with tools such as bus-only lanes and priority signaling
- Making transformational investments in Amtrak in order to create a robust, reliable rail system and to address long-neglected maintenance needs in the Northeast Corridor and throughout the country while also enhancing rail worker and passenger safety and helping communities address grade crossing issues
- Improving access to federal funding to help communities around the country undertake transformative projects that are smarter, safer, and made to last.
The INVEST in America Act also accounts for the economic downturn caused by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and ensures states, cities, tribes, territories, and transit agencies can administer programs, advance projects, and preserve jobs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. The INVEST in America Act authorizes a sharp increase in funding to continue current programs in the first year of enactment of the bill (FY 2021) with wider policy implementation occurring in FY 2022.
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SOURCE: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
