The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, Unite States House of Representatives
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader, United States House of Representatives
The Honorable Rosa DeLauro, Chair, House Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Kay Granger, Ranking Member, House Appropriations Committee
The Honorable David E. Price, Chair, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
The Honorable Mario Diaz-Balart, Ranking Member, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer, Majority Leader, United States Senate
The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, United States Senate
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Richard Shelby, Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Brian Schatz, Chair, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
The Honorable Susan Collins, Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Subject: Fully Honoring IIJA Funding Levels for Highway Trust Fund Programs in FY 2022
Appropriations
Dear Congressional Leaders:
Our coalition of public and private sector stakeholders in the transportation industry first write to extend our appreciation for the robust transportation infrastructure funding included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate played a critical role in the development and passage of this historic legislation that will benefit the entire country.
With that said, we can begin to fulfill the promise of the IIJA expected by the public only when full-year appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 becomes available—the outcome that all of the signing organizations recognize and fully and unreservedly support. We also recognize that the House and Senate have yet to resolve their differences to finalize negotiations for FY 2022 appropriations including for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) and is relying on yet another Continuing Resolution (CR) through February 18, 2022.
Without a full-year appropriations bill, we anticipate that states, local governments, and public transit agencies will not be able to access the IIJA’s roughly 20 percent funding increase for highway formula programs and more than 30 percent increase for public transit formula programs, along with any new transportation initiatives that Congress provided for in the IIJA. Instead, under the current CR that extends three months past the signing of the IIJA, the obligation limitation that dictates spending levels for many federal transportation programs remains well below what is included in the infrastructure legislation; the illustrative estimate of highway formula dollars remaining inaccessible under the CR is attached. We also note the programs hit the hardest by this lower obligation limitation are new formula programs—Carbon Reduction and PROTECT—which will force state and local governments to delay implementation of a key Congressional priority in the IIJA.
The signing organizations have advocated for and continue to advocate for a full-year appropriations bill. However, a delay of almost six months since the beginning of FY 2022 in providing the much-touted funding increases from the IIJA is wholly unacceptable and will cause significant project disruptions, reduced construction and manufacturing employment, and delays in delivering critical transportation infrastructure improvements—just when Americans were promised the most ambitious infrastructure package of our time.
Given the hard work and effort that Congress put into the IIJA, we urge you to put the much-needed infrastructure and safety investments envisioned in this bipartisan package to work as soon as possible. We do not make this request lightly, but if Congress is unable to finish the THUD Appropriations bill by February 18, 2022, we ask that Congress includes an anomaly to provide full obligation limitation levels in any future CR in order to fully honor the IIJA’s funding levels for all transportation-related programs.
Thank you again for providing record-high levels of transportation appropriations in the IIJA and we ask that you pass the FY 2022 THUD Appropriations bill as soon as possible—or provide the necessary anomaly—in order to fully realize the full potential of this historic infrastructure legislation.
Alliance for Automotive Innovation
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
American Bus Association
American Coal Ash Association
American Concrete Pavement Association
American Concrete Pipe Association
American Concrete Pumping Association
American Council of Engineering Companies
American Foundry Society
American Highway Users Alliance
American Institute of Steel Construction
American Iron and Steel Institute
American Public Transportation Association
American Public Works Association
American Road and Transportation Builders Association
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Subcontractors Association
American Traffic Safety Services Association
American Trucking Associations
Associated Equipment Distributors
Associated General Contractors of America
Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure
Association of Equipment Manufacturers
Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Auto Care Association
Community Transportation Association of America
Construction & Demolition Recycling Association
Design-Build Institute of America
FP2, formerly the Foundation for Pavement Preservation
Government Finance Officers Association
Governors Highway Safety Association
Institute of Makers of Explosives
Institute of Transportation Engineers
International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association
ITS America
Laborers’ International Union of North America
League of American Bicyclists
National Asphalt Pavement Association
National Association of Counties
National Association of County Engineers
National Association of Development Organizations
National Association of Regional Councils
National Association of Surety Bond Producers
National League of Cities
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
National Retail Federation
National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association
National Safety Council
National Society of Professional Surveyors
National Steel Bridge Alliance
National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association
National Utility Contractors Association
National Association of Home Builders
NATSO, representing travel plazas and truckstops
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
Portland Cement Association
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
RV Industry Association
Safe Routes Partnership
Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association
Steel Manufacturers Association
Subsurface Utility Engineering Association
The Association of Union Constructors
The Surety & Fidelity Association of America
Tire Industry Association
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Geospatial Executives Organization
Enclosure
