Advocates Call for Action on Biden’s Infrastructure Bill

The Senate may slash the nation’s core funding for transit even as many hoped it would finally get its due — unless advocates speak out.

Senate negotiators failed to meet a self-imposed Monday deadline to finish a draft of the as-yet-unnamed, bipartisan infrastructure bill, which would reauthorize the funding and regulations governing core transportation programs for the next five years and inject billions in one-time spending into key initiatives. President Biden has endorsed a rough outline of spending for each priority, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework.  Top sustainable-transportation advocates say, however, that the framework is too vague, especially on the funding for top-line categories such as “highways,” which they want to restrict to maintenance and safety improvements rather than road expansion.

Worse, sources close to the Senate negotiations report that the conflict behind the delay is not about whether transit will be shortchanged, but rather by how much — and the House, which has been pushing for more funding for mass transit, has been all but shut out of the talks.

Johnson charted a bolder path forward this month when he helped pass the Houses’ answer to reauthorization, the INVEST in America Act. The bill would end the 80/20 split and boost funding for transit by more than 60 percent, allowing agencies to use some funds to offset operations rather than just construction, while also restricting states from expanding highway networks when they lack plans to address maintenance backlogs, among other key reforms that have drawn praise from advocates.

So far, the Senate has ignored the legislation in favor of its own highway spending reauthorization bill, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021, which advocates say largely maintains our car-focused status quo.

Worse, sources say that bill’s priorities are guiding lawmakers as they flesh out Biden’s infrastructure stimulus spending, too, which could turn a generational investment in transit into a bonanza for cars.

“From what we’ve heard, the Senate is using the STRA as the policy basis for how to allocate funding in the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework], and that’s deeply concerning,” said Sindhu Bharadwaj, program manager of policy at the National Association of City Transportation Officials. “This bill would essentially continue the transportation policies that have been in place for the last decades, and we know those policies have failed. They make our transportation systems unsafe, they make transportation deeply unsustainable, and they’re still pouring billions into the kind of dividing infrastructure that destroyed communities of color….We can’t accept any deal that doesn’t address safety, equity and climate head-on.”

Bharadjwaj hopes that advocate pressure on 22 key senators could spur a comeback for the INVEST in America Act and even expand its vision. (Transportation for America has compiled contact information for those lawmakers and a call script here.) But even if that doesn’t happen, this is a critical moment for transit.

“It’s really pretty basic: We need all stakeholders to get the word out to our senators, because that’s where the action is right now, that we need the highest level of funding for public transit,” said Paul Skoutelas, president and chief executive officer of the American Public Transportation Association. “There’s a lot of moving parts right now, but however we move those pieces around, we need the outcome to be the same. It’s time to put public transit on a path to be able to modernize and to grow. There isn’t any other choice.”