WASHINGTON — While Congress tries to push out a new round of COVID-19 relief funding, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee met Wednesday morning to preview the country’s future in transportation and infrastructure.
Capito will serve as the ranking member of the 20-person committee — half Democrats and half Republicans — in the 117th Congress. Committee members in their first meeting Wednesday praised the panel’s past work in advancing bipartisan legislation and expressed cautious optimism about the United States’ ability to build a strong infrastructure in the coming years.
A major infrastructure bill is slated to come from the committee sometime this year. Members said they hope it will get the country and its people back on their feet. In her opening remarks, Capito recalled the major 2019 infrastructure bill the committee passed unanimously but which never made it through Congress.
“Our committee has a strong track record of developing these bills in a bipartisan manner,” Capito said. “We can come together and once again use this bipartisan process to develop a bill that includes priorities from both parties.”
Capito said a major transportation bill would put Americans to work on projects that improve their own communities and generate regional economic development.
“It’s also about more than building our infrastructure. This bill can facilitate a recovery from the pandemic that has devastated our communities and wreaked havoc on our communities and our economy,” Capito said. “Transportation infrastructure is the platform that can drive economic growth — all-American jobs, right here, right on the ground, now and in the future, and improve the quality of life for everyone.”
Committee members questioned Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Victoria Sheehan, president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The senators asked what infrastructure projects have been successful in their states and cities, what projects could be implemented nationwide and which problems must be regionally targeted.
Hogan, noting the large urban centers and small rural pockets that exist in Maryland, said his administration has tailored highways, rail and other projects to the cities and regions where they exist. He stressed the importance of states having the freedom to develop their own projects.
Capito, in her office before the morning hearing, said it will be the committee’s job to kick away any federal government roadblocks for states to develop their own infrastructure. She said that lets states like West Virginia have the freedom and flexibility to tailor their own highways projects to their land.
Capito said she was concerned about the growing percentage of deficient bridges in West Virginia, noting that the last major bill set aside 10% percent of total funding for bridge infrastructure projects.
“Now, they’re not going to fall down tomorrow,” she said, “but, if we don’t maintain them, they’re going to really go into huge disrepair.”
Committee members targeted climate change and its effect on the environment and public health throughout the meeting. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the country needs to act now on installing electric-car charging stations nationwide, now that automotive companies like GM are committing to creating 30 new electric vehicles by 2025.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said the country must act quickly on an electric vehicle future, noting that, by 2050, the number of gas- and diesel-fueled cars on roads likely will drop significantly.
With the drop in gas-fueled vehicles comes a drop in gas tax revenue, members said, leaving less funding available for these major infrastructure projects. Capito said the committee also must work through this issue.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said his home state spends too much money every year repairing damaged roads, rather than building new ones or investing in cleaner and more efficient travel. He said rural states across the country deal with this problem, as well.
Capito and other members also stressed the importance of innovation to drive economic change. Projects such as the Virgin Hyperloop training facility in Tucker and Grant counties, where the company will attempt to certify a high-speed rail system, support this mission, she said.
