Last week the U-S House was able to pass a long term transportation bill which has businesses across the commonwealth feeling optimistic.
Congress hasn’t passed a long-term transportation bill since 2009. That’s left localities and states reeling from uncertainty as lawmakers have cobbled together dozens of short-term patches. Ask any Virginia lawmaker and they’ll tell you they’ve been getting pressured by local business to pass a long term transportation bill. Here’s Virginia Republican Morgan Griffith.
“Certainly my trucking industry feels very strongly that we need to get something. My highway builders feel strongly. The chamber feels strongly.”
The House passed bill allocates more than $300 billion dollars for road and highway projects across the nation. Virginia Republican Scott Rigell says it’s vital.
“The nature of transportation is capital intensive – the massive amounts of funds that are required to do anything in transportation, whether it’s a road a bridge or a tunnel, it lends itself to long term planning and long term funding.”
The measure is a little gimmicky though. It lays the ground work for six years of transportation projects, but only includes three years worth of funding. Still, Rigell says it’s better than nothing.
“It is true that the funding for this bill is not as steady and as complete as I’d like to see it, but as I’m always reminded on the chamber floor, so often we’re faced with imperfect alternatives.”
The bill put other lawmakers in a bind. Virginia Republican Dave Brat was one of sixty four lawmakers to oppose the bill, though he says he supports transportation funding.
“I wanted to. It’s important for my area.”
Brat says he opposed it in part because it included an extension of the Export Import Bank – a federal bank that finances American exports. Brat doesn’t blame newly minted Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.
“This bill is kinda right at the transition point, it came out of the old process, and now we’re moving forward with more optimism.”
But Brat says he hopes the new Republican leaders learn from the process and start to plan ahead.
“It’s not optimal and so that’s what leadership is, is planning. That’s what I’m trying to get at on all these comments is just the planning ahead of time could have prevent all of this chaos at the end of the year.”
Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine is hailing the deal. He blames Congress for much of the angst being felt throughout the nation over the past few years.
“Yeah Congress has been the largest generator of uncertainty in the American economy for about the last ten years.”
Virginia Democratic Congressman Don Beyer says the transportation deal is a good sign for this hyper partisan Washington.
“Once again Democrats, Republicans, House, and Senate to get a long term highway bill. They were marking it up last week first time in five years we’ve done that and we’ve been kicking the can down the road.”
The House and Senate still have to go to a formal conference on the measure, but it’s expected to be a fairly easy process at this point.
