In a letter to the US Congress, American Trucking Associations (ATA) and a coalition of 37 other organizations warned about the dangers of devolving the federal highway program and urged passage of a robust, long-term highway bill that secures the federal role in transportation.
“As the nation’s primary movers of interstate commerce, a uniform transportation system is of paramount importance,” said Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “Congress should reject dangerous calls to abdicate its constitutional responsibility to manage and fund the federal highway program and pass a strong, long-term highway bill this spring.”
In the letter, ATA and its allies told Congress they “strongly oppose “devolution” proposals such as the Transportation Empowerment Act, previously introduced and considered in the 113th Congress. TEA is an ill-conceived proposal that would strip away most federal funding for surface transportation projects, essentially eliminating the federal government’s constitutionally mandated role in promoting interstate commerce.”
Although TEA was soundly defeated in 2014, its supporters intend to press for another vote. TEA would saddle states with 90% of the responsibility for maintaining a system that carries 55% of all traffic and 97% of truck traffic and underfunds the Interstate system by $9 billion, according to ATA.
“Congress soundly rejected the devolution idea last year, and they did so for good reason,” said Graves. “Our economic health depends on modern infrastructure and rehashing settled issues like this delay real action to address the nation’s pressing need for improved roads and bridges. There are no Democratic bridges or Republican roads. Congress should stop putting off real action and pass a long-term bill before the current authorization expires in May.”
To read the coalition letter, click here.
ATA is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. It consists of a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils.
Access www.trucking.org for more information.
