WASHINGTON, DC - With the current federal highway transportation bill set to expire in just 3 days, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is urging the U.S. House of Representatives to get moving and pass the bipartisan Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) that cleared the U.S. Senate 74-22, with support from about half of Senate Republicans.

Reed says the bill passed by the Senate will provide an estimated $515 million over the next two years for Rhode Island’s network of roads, bridges, transit, and other infrastructure.  Reed warned that if the House fails to act it could needlessly slow road and bridge projects across the country and cause construction workers to be laid off after states stop getting federal reimbursements to pay them.

“About 9,000 direct and indirect jobs in Rhode Island are supported by this two year extension.  People’s livelihoods are at stake.  The state needs to be able to plan for the future.  If the House doesn’t act, projects and jobs could get shut down.  Speaker Boehner should stop stalling and take a vote,” said Reed, who noted that when the House forced a similar impasse over the summer shutting down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for two weeks, about 4,000 federal workers were furloughed and the agency lost over $460 million in revenue that could have been used for airport construction. 

Failure to pass the transportation bill could mean a loss of about $100 million per day to the Highway Trust Fund, and states would be unable to access promised federal reimbursements for ongoing projects or initiate new projects.  Additionally, the lapse in authorization would force U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to furlough about 2,800 workers nationwide. 

Earlier this week the Republican-controlled House canceled a vote on a stop gap three-month extension that would create havoc in state planning for transportation projects.  Internal divisions within the House Republican leadership continue to stall the bipartisan transportation bill from getting a vote in the House.

“Transportation drives our economy.  Improving our transportation system is a smart investment that will help create jobs here in Rhode Island and provide long-term economic benefits,” said Reed.  “We need to provide the state with the resources and certainty it needs to plan transportation projects and put people to work.  Moving our nation forward requires bipartisan solutions, and I hope the House leadership will pass the overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that is on their plate.”

The Senate's $109 billion transportation bill would consolidate multiple programs to cut red tape and provide the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) with an average of $227 million a year for highways, roads, bridges, and mass-transit.  Reed helped author a key portion of the bill that will provide Rhode Island with an increase of more than 10% ($3.7 million) in mass-transit funding.  The state will continue to receive more than $3 in federal funding for every dollar paid in federal gas taxes.

Reed says he would prefer to extend the bill for five years so that Rhode Island would be able to better plan for long-term transportation investments, but the House bill, which would have reduced Rhode Island’s average annual highway investment by $46 million a year and devastated public transportation by nearly $7 million a year, was a non-starter.