Traffic flows through a construction area near the Bay Bridge in Annapolis, Maryland on May 21, 2021.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
A group of Republican and Democratic senators unveiled a transportation package over the weekend to top up funds for highways, roads and bridges while Congress seeks non-partisan ways to repair the country’s infrastructure.
The legislation, released by the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, would increase funding by 34% to a base value of approximately $ 300 billion over five years. The previous approval expired in 2020, and Congress passed a one-year extension due in September.
“This comprehensive, bipartisan legislation will not only help us rebuild and repair the American land transport system, but also help us build new transport infrastructure,” said senior committee member Shelley Moore Capito, RW.Va., in a press release on Saturday .
The bipartisan proposal is supported by the committee chairman, Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., As well as the subcommittee chairman and senior members of the Transportation Subcommittee, Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., And Kevin Cramer, R-.ND
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House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a re-authorization of the land transportation finance program – a $ 400 billion bill that regulates the funding of highways, bridges, and transit systems.
The pressure on land transport comes from Washington struggling to reach an agreement on a more comprehensive infrastructure package.
The White House cut its original $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure plan to $ 1.7 trillion on Friday to help Republican senators, who tabled their own $ 568 billion infrastructure proposal in April, to submit a counter offer.
However, Moore Capito’s office said the White House proposal was still “well beyond the range” Republicans in Congress would support.
