Republican lawmakers are casting doubt on whether an infrastructure package can be completed in conjunction with other transportation and infrastructure priorities, despite interest from both parties in a massive overhaul this Congress.
For Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., one major obstacle is the fact that Congress is also saddled with passing a bill renewing federal funding for highways. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015, which authorizes appropriations taken from the Highway Trust Fund, will expire in fiscal year 2021.
“I just don’t think we can get two done. I wish we could,” Capito, a member of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, said at an airport industry event in March. “I think it’s going to be too big a hill to climb in this environment. So I think the most focus is going to be on the highway bill.”
Joseph Kane, a senior research analyst and associate fellow of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, admitted that lawmakers have a small window of time to address infrastructure due to the highway bill, as well as the upcoming 2020 election.
“Balancing the two, or even somehow addressing the two together, is nothing short of a political tightrope,” Kane said. “More likely than not, policymakers will have to prioritize one or the other.”
Additionally, Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, warned that bipartisanship would be over if clean energy policies Democrats are pushing were inserted into a sweeping infrastructure measure.
“If it’s loaded up with carbon taxes and Green New Deal, then that will kill the bipartisanship,” Graves said at an event this month.
A spokesperson for Graves told the Washington Examiner that the ranking member expects the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to push an infrastructure measure out of committee, but said it’s unclear what amendments would be attached once it reaches the House floor. The spokesperson also voiced concern that partisan amendments could crush the possibility of an infrastructure measure becoming law.
President Trump has pushed for an infrastructure overhaul since his 2016 campaign. In February 2018, the White House released a blueprint that called for using $200 billion in federal funds to spur a minimum of $1.3 trillion in infrastructure spending from state and local governments, in addition to private sector buy-in. But the plan attracted little momentum in Congress, and it was ultimately shelved.
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Trump emphasized that infrastructure was a “necessity” during his State of the Union address in February — although he shared few specifics — and Vice President Mike Pence pledged last month that “historic infrastructure legislation” would be passed this Congress.
Similarly, Democrats are on board with addressing infrastructure. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said this month she’s had “conversations” with Trump where he “assured” her infrastructure is an area where both parties could unite.
Even so, there are some major issues that must be hashed out. Graves said all options are being considered as the committee weighs one of the most challenging hurdles for an infrastructure proposal: how to pay for it.
“Everything is on the table,” Graves told the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month. “We are open to whatever you all put forth.”
Graves, who noted, “It’s going to take political capital to get something done,” has historically backed a vehicle miles traveled tax, or VMT, that would tax users based on their mileage. Other ideas tossed out include raising the federal gas tax or repealing some of Trump’s tax cuts and raising the corporate tax rate.
As Graves indicated, another area of contention is the clean energy policies Democrats are angling to include in an infrastructure provision. For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York cautioned late last year that Senate Democrats wouldn’t back an infrastructure plan if it failed to address policies and funding that “help transition our country to a clean-energy economy and mitigate the risks the United States already faces from climate change.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also introduced a resolution in February that calls for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and significant infrastructure investments, among other things.
Pressure is on for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to deliver an infrastructure proposal soon. Graves said time is limited for the committee to unveil an infrastructure measure, and cautioned that if the committee didn’t release a plan by August, they may not get another chance to do so this year. Even so, a spokesperson for Graves voiced optimism that Congress could tackle infrastructure — provided lawmakers work together.
“It’s going to be an exciting year,” Graves said at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials conference late last month, according to Transport Topics. “We just need to get something done quicker rather than later.”
