Senate EPW bill reauthorizes funding for highways, roads and bridges for next five years
Washington, D.C. – Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) joined her colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee in voting unanimously to pass a highway funding bill yesterday.
The Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act authored by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tom Carper (D-DE), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) sets a new funding level at $311 billion for U.S. Department of Transportation programs for highways, roads, and bridges.
“I’m encouraged by the work the Environment and Public Works Committee is doing to get to a bipartisan solution on infrastructure,” Senator Lummis said. “This bill is a step in the right direction.
“I am hopeful that President Biden will work with both Republicans and Democrats – just as we have on this bill – to find bipartisan agreement. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Commerce and Banking committees to finalize an infrastructure proposal that meets the needs of all Americans.”
The Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act increases highway funding from the last reauthorization in 2015. It provides 90 percent of total highway funding from the Highway Trust Fund through a formula to states, which is essential for rural states like Wyoming to take full advantage of infrastructure funding.
Senator Lummis had two amendments included in the bill, both of which would allow states to modernize certain innovative transportation technologies.
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