Press Releases

Opening remarks, as prepared, of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) from today’s hearing, entitled “Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Member Day”:

Before delivering my statement, I want to take this moment to honor our colleague and friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa. For nearly a decade, Congressman LaMalfa served on this Committee as a valued and thoughtful Member.

He made this committee a better place to serve. He was a tireless advocate for rural Americans, and his voice will be missed as we continue our work to address the needs of our transportation infrastructure. We continue to pray for his wife, children, and family as they face this unexpected tragedy.

Moving on to today’s business, I look forward to hearing Members share their transportation and infrastructure priorities for the second session of the 119th Congress.

The T&I Committee is coming off a very busy 2025. Our work started with reconciliation, which included historic investments in the Coast Guard and a $12.5 billion downpayment to modernize our nation’s air traffic control system. The Committee also passed, on a bipartisan basis, a pipeline safety reauthorization; the FEMA Act of 2025, which reforms our approach to emergency management; and the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which was signed into law late last month as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Finally, we closed out last year with House passage of the PERMIT Act, legislation that greatly improves permitting under the Clean Water Act.

Looking ahead to this year, we have multiple legislative priorities that the Committee must reauthorize, including our surface transportation programs. The Committee has already been hard at work on the next surface transportation bill, and we plan to mark it up early this year.

In addition to this year’s surface bill, we have also begun work on the next Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The portal for Members’ WRDA priorities was opened on Monday and will remain open throughout the rest of this month, so I encourage Members to work with their staff to get those priorities submitted.

Again, thank you all for being here today to testify on the transportation and infrastructure needs in your districts.