BUILD America 250 Act

[Plutonic Panda]

New surface transportation bill to replace the 2021 bill. Article says it'll be the largest investment in history. Full text of the bill has been released:

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/House-transportation-committee-drafts-surface-transportation-reauthorization-bill--76957

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/graves-larsen-highway-bill

https://transportation.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409495

[Plutonic Panda]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

[Rothman]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

[Plutonic Panda]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

Not to get political and I'm not advocating for this one way or another but I had read Trump was pushing to include the Save America Act in the transportation bill IIRC. Not sure if that'll impact it or not.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

I see this would write a US 421 upgrade to I-777 into law.

[Rothman]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

I see this would write a US 421 upgrade to I-777 into law.

I will always admire NC for going after that extra 10%.

[oscar]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

First, we'll have to see if it even makes it out of the House. Tipoffs: on page 1, no bill number or committee assignment.

[vdeane]

First, we'll have to see if it even makes it out of the House. Tipoffs: on page 1, no bill number or committee assignment.

Interesting.  It makes me wonder; is this a rename of BASICS, a competing effort to BASICS, or a replacement for BASICS?

[ElishaGOtis]

lol there's a provision regarding a change in state funding if they experience a higher than average number of speeding-related crashes 💀😂

And WTF IS THAT EV FEE??

[Scott5114]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

Not to get political and I'm not advocating for this one way or another but I had read Trump was pushing to include the Save America Act in the transportation bill IIRC. Not sure if that'll impact it or not.

Doing that would ensure that it would be ineligible for reconciliation and would thus require 60 votes in the Senate, which it wouldn't get.

[Mapmikey]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

I see this would write a US 421 upgrade to I-777 into law.

It also adds US 74 between I-26 and I-85 as a High Priority Corridor.

It also gives a grandfather clause with respect to what vehicles are currently allowed on the US 65/IA 5 freeway around Des Moines should this become an interstate

[Big John]

lol there's a provision regarding a change in state funding if they experience a higher than average number of speeding-related crashes 💀😂

And WTF IS THAT EV FEE??

EV fee is for electric or hybrid vehicles to make up for the lost revenue of gas taxes they are not paying.

[GaryV]

THAT EV FEE

It was going to be an RV fee, but someone's middle finger twitched.

[hobsini2]

Direct link to the bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/build_america_250_act_bill_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198664-345

We'll see what the Senate does to it.

Not to get political and I'm not advocating for this one way or another but I had read Trump was pushing to include the Save America Act in the transportation bill IIRC. Not sure if that'll impact it or not.

Doing that would ensure that it would be ineligible for reconciliation and would thus require 60 votes in the Senate, which it wouldn't get.

Why can't we get a clean bill just once? It really annoys the hell out of me that both sides of the aisle do this.
The vote should be on the validity of a specific project or project package. The Save America Bill has zero to do with Infrastructure Bills.

[Plutonic Panda]

I searched it and couldn't find anything about a serious proposal to inject the Save America Act into the voter bill other than Trump claiming he wouldn't sign another bill until that one is put before him so we'll see.

In other news Amtrak would see an increase in funding with this:

https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/amtrak-funding-would-get-boost-under-house-surface-transportation-bill/

[Plutonic Panda]

The NPS would get an increase in funding presumably for roads and bridges:

https://www.npca.org/articles/11389-house-transportation-bill-provides-modest-increases-to-national-park-other

[Scott5114]

Why can't we get a clean bill just once? It really annoys the hell out of me that both sides of the aisle do this.
The vote should be on the validity of a specific project or project package. The Save America Bill has zero to do with Infrastructure Bills.

Because the Senate requires 60 votes out of 100 for nearly any bill to pass*, and that is effectively impossible to achieve on a party-line vote. The last time either party had 60 Senators was the Democrats in 2009, for the few months between when Al Franken (MN) was seated and Ted Kennedy (MA) died. (They used that time to pass the Affordable Care Act.)

Thus the only way for either party to get anything they want done without the other party's agreement is to attach it to something like an infrastructure bill (or something "must pass" like the annual farm bill or National Defense Authorization Act). This is an old, old tactic. It puts the minority party of being in the position of either voting for the bill and allowing the majority party to get what they want, or voting it down and being accused of not supporting infrastructure (or farmers, or the military, or whatever).

You will never see a "clean" bill unless both parties always want the same thing (at which point why would they be separate parties, so impossible), or either party can elect 60 senators (would need about ten states to become open to voting for the other party at least occasionally, so doubtful), or the vote threshold is reduced to 51 votes across the board (needs 51 Senators to agree to change the Senate rules).

*The one exception in terms of actual bills are so-called "reconciliation bills", which are strictly limited to budget-related topics, and only one is allowed every calendar year. Because these only require 51 votes, there is a great temptation to turn them into "Christmas tree bills" and attach everything under the sun to them. To prevent this, they must go through a procedure called a "Byrd bath" (named after Sen. Robert Byrd [D-WV], who came up with the rules) wherein the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian goes through throwing out things deemed "extraneous". The reason the Senate Republicans are trying to attach the Save America Act to an infrastructure bill is because they already tried to get it through reconciliation and it got ruled extraneous. Interestingly, the Vice President can overrule the parliamentarian on whether something is extraneous or not, but the last VP to do so was Nelson Rockefeller. Of course, if everything required 51 votes in the Senate, there would be no need for reconciliation, Byrd baths, or any of this mess.

[pderocco]

The NPS would get an increase in funding presumably for roads and bridges:

https://www.npca.org/articles/11389-house-transportation-bill-provides-modest-increases-to-national-park-other

Great. Now they can put up some route signs.

[NE2]

The NPS would get an increase in funding presumably for roads and bridges:

https://www.npca.org/articles/11389-house-transportation-bill-provides-modest-increases-to-national-park-other

Great. Now they can put up some route signs.

They did in Yosemite. And on the parkways.

[Plutonic Panda]

Autonomous trucking is being factored in with the new bill:

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/build-america-250-autonomous

[Plutonic Panda]

New report shows surface transportation marginally improving:

https://www.roadsbridges.com/funding/news/55378975/america-spent-15-trillion-on-roads-heres-why-many-still-arent-getting-better

[Plutonic Panda]

It looks like the committee will review it tomorrow according to this article:

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/BUILD-America-250-Act-introduced-in-House--76984

[Plutonic Panda]

Per this article it appears that the bill has cleared the committee not quite sure:

https://transportation.org/pressreleases/aashto-encouraged-by-progress-on-surface-transportation-reauthorization-with-build-america-250-act/

And from the house on the supporters of bill:

https://transportation.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409764

[Plutonic Panda]

T&I Committee has officially approved it.


https://transportation.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=410054

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1374205/episodes/19215619

[Plutonic Panda]

The railway safety act is being included in this proposed bill:

https://www.trains.com/pro/freight/class-i/house-panel-attaches-railway-safety-act-to-broader-transportation-bill/