Press Releases

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) statement on today’s House passage of the Speaker’s My Way or the Highway Bill 2.0 (H.R. 3684):

“The extreme partisan policies throughout the Speaker’s My Way or the Highway Bill aren’t going to get the support needed to pass the Senate, so the Majority has wasted another year on yet another messaging bill instead of working on a strong bipartisan proposal we can take to conference with the Senate.

“This was a missed opportunity for partnership and for passing a bill that addresses the real infrastructure needs of all our communities, from our largest cities to the most rural areas. 

“There are so many things wrong with this $715 billion bill, from the fact it relies entirely on deficit spending, to the fact that it will drive up inflation even more, to the fact that it fails to cut red tape or let our states make their own decisions about what infrastructure needs are most critical to their communities.  But the Majority couldn’t even bring themselves to recognize that art is not infrastructure, voting against the simplest of amendments to keep in place a basic bipartisan ban that prevents federal transit funding from be wasted on art for transit stations.

“A deal was there to be had on this bill – that’s clearly evident by the various bipartisan bills and ongoing discussions in the Senate.  But the Speaker had no true interest in bipartisanship, only in moving this one-size-fits-all vision for what the Majority thinks our infrastructure should look like.  And what’s worse, the progressives aren’t going to let even a real infrastructure bill move forward unless they also get their $6 trillion tax-and-spend agenda through budget reconciliation.”

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