Senators introduce bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bill

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators last week announced a surface transportation reauthorization bill that will be marked up this week by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW).

The legislation was introduced by U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the EPW chair; Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va), the committee’s ranking member; Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the EPW Subcommittee on Transportation Infrastructure; and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), the subcommittee’s ranking member.

The Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021 sets a new baseline funding level at $303.5 billion for  U.S. Department of Transportation programs for highways, roads and bridges. This marks an increase of more than 34% from the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015. The FAST Act expired in 2020; Congress passed a one-year extension that will expire Sept. 30.

Full text of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act can be found here. Additional materials include a section-by-section and tables for apportionments and authorizations, including for topics such as railroad-highway grade crossing safety and public transportation.

“I’m proud to join with my colleagues in crafting a bipartisan bill that invests in our nation’s transportation infrastructure at a historic high level, and in doing so, helps create jobs, curbs our carbon emissions, and expands opportunities for the American people,” said Carper. “We must reauthorize the surface transportation bill before its current authorization expires in September. It is a vital foundation for President Biden’s American Jobs Plan."