T&I Committee OKs bills to address truck weight, supply-chain issues

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) on May 23 passed a slate of bills aimed at addressing supply-chain disruptions.

The bills include H.R. 3372, which would establish a 10-year pilot program for states to increase truck weights on federal highways, and H.R. 3317, which would close a loophole in current federal law that prohibits Federal Transit Administration funds from being used to buy rail cars or buses from foreign state-owned or controlled companies.

H.R. 3372 would establish the pilot program to allow commercial trucks on the Interstate Highway System to weigh as much as 91,000 pounds, up from the current maximum of 80,000. The bill is opposed by many in the rail industry.

Calling the proposed pilot a "farce," the bill would result in a "wholesale evisceration of federal law governing the weight of vehicles on America’s roadways," American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President President Chuck Baker wrote in a recent letter to T&I members.

Meanwhile, the Rail Security Alliance (RSA) lauded the committee’s approval of H.R. 3317, which would close a loophole in the Transportation Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act (TIVSA), which was signed into law as part of the fiscal-year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. That law exempted transit agencies already under contract with the China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC) to make passenger-rail cars.

Introduced by Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), H.R. 3317 "provides additional security around the nation's manufacturing of rolling stock," RSA officials said in a press release.

Also among the several supply-chain-related bills is the Supply Chain Improvement Act (H.R. 3365). Introduced by U.S. Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.), the measure would give priority consideration to projects that would improve or build resiliency into the supply chain under the federal INFRA (known statutorily as the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects) and Mega (known statutorily as National Infrastructure Project Assistance) discretionary grant programs.