Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) today announced his selections for the Committee’s six subcommittee chairmen and the Full Committee Vice Chairman for the 114^th Congress.

“Last Congress, the Committee was able to work together to accomplish a number of our policy and legislative goals to help strengthen America’s infrastructure and bolster the Nation’s competitiveness,” Shuster said.  “A great deal of our success was attributable to our committee’s excellent leadership team.  With the return of five of our subcommittee chairmen and Full Committee Vice Chairman, and the addition of a proven leader to lead our Highways and Transit Subcommittee, I am confident we will be able to continue effectively addressing the needs of our transportation system.”

A bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project and help create thousands of American jobs was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives today.

H.R. 3, introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), provides for the immediate approval of the Keystone project, delayed for years by the administration.  The bill passed the House by a vote of 266 to 153.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today applauded final Congressional passage of the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), House Transportation Committee Ranking Member Nick J. Rahall, II (D-WV),  and Senate Commerce Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) released the following statement on passage of the bill:

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on Public-Private Partnerships (P3 Panel) today released its final report and recommendations on how to balance the needs of the public and private sector when undertaking P3s to finance the Nation’s infrastructure. The Panel was tasked by Full Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Ranking Member Nick J. Rahall, II (D-WV) with examining the current use of P3s across the Committee’s jurisdiction – including all modes of transportation, public buildings, water, and maritime infrastructure. The Committee’s Vice Chairman, U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), led the P3 Panel, and U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) served as its Ranking Member.

Bipartisan legislation to prevent the Administration from bypassing Congress, changing the scope of existing law without authority, and expanding its own limited powers to regulate waters under the Clean Water Act, was approved by the House of Representatives today.

The Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act (H.R. 5078) is legislation that upholds the federal-state partnership to regulate the Nation’s waters and prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from implementing a rule that threatens to open many new waters and private property to federal regulation, including ditches, man-made ponds, floodplains, riparian areas, and seasonally-wet areas.

The U.S. House of Representatives today overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to return transparency to U.S. airfare advertising and providing greater clarity for consumers by allowing advertisements for passenger air travel to state the base airfare and separately disclose any government-imposed taxes and fees and the total cost of travel.

Bipartisan legislation to uphold the federal-state partnership to regulate the Nation’s waters and prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from implementing a rule that broadens the scope of the Clean Water Act and expands the federal government’s regulatory power was introduced in the House today by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders.

The Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act (H.R. 5078) is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, and is cosponsored by Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH), and a bipartisan group of additional Members of the House.  A Committee markup scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, July 16, 2014 will include H.R. 5078.

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) released the following statement on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, a bill introduced in the House by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), and cosponsored by Shuster:

“We have an immediate, critical need to address the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund and extend the current surface transportation law.  This bill does that in a responsible way with policies that have all previously received strong bipartisan and bicameral support.  If Congress fails to act, thousands of transportation projects and hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country will be at risk.