Lame-Duck Look Ahead: Energy Permitting Reform Bill
October 13, 2022
In early August, it was announced that Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) had reached a deal with Congressional leaders to take up energy infrastructure permitting reform legislation. This deal was made in exchange for his support of the climate change and clean energy reconciliation package known as the Inflation Reduction......
Senate Appropriators Introduce Fiscal Year 2021 Spending Bills
November 12, 2020
While the House passed their bills earlier this year, Senate Appropriators this week introduced all 12 spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2021. These spending bills come as Congress enters the lame-duck session and need to avert a potential government shutdown as we near the December 11 deadline. While House Appropriators included COVID-19 supplemental funding,......
Senate Panel Moves on Surface Transportation Bill
July 31, 2019
Bipartisanship was in the air on Capitol Hill this week. If there’s one issue both political parties can agree on, that’s infrastructure. This was evident this week as the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee introduced, marked up, and voted out of Committee S. 2302, America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019 (ATIA). This legislation......
Senate Appropriators Fund High Hazard Dam Rehab Program
June 22, 2018
This week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations passed its Fiscal Year 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The $48.334 billion bill, which is an increase of $611 million compared to the FY18 enacted level, includes $250 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis, which is a $12.5 million decrease......
Advocating on the Hill for Funding of Critical Dam Programs
July 31, 2017
In an effort to raise the Dams grade, which received a “D” in the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, ASCE and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) spent two days on Capitol Hill last week advocating for funding the High Hazard Potential Dam Rehabilitation Program and the National Dam Safety Program (NDSP) – programs......
Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Transportation Spending Bill
July 28, 2017
The Senate Committee on Appropriations passed a bill yesterday to fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development for fiscal year 2018 (which according to the federal calendar begins October 1). The bill funds the Department of Transportation (DOT) at $79.6 billion for FY18 (a $1.5 billion increase from FY17). That total is $1.1......
Senate EPW Committee Examines How to Modernize America’s Infrastructure
February 09, 2017
On Wednesday the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee held its first oversight hearing of the 115th Congress (video available here) and new Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) started things off by making it clear where he stands on the proposal offered by President Trump’s campaign to use private investment to improve our nation’s infrastructure: “Funding......
The House hits snooze for long-term bill until October
July 31, 2015
With July wrapping up, the House throwing in the towel and settling for another three-month extension as the Senate passing the DRIVE Act, hopes for a long-term highway funding solution are pushed back again. Before heading home for August recess the House and Senate passed another short-term patch that will provide $8 billion of funding......
Despite Senate Transportation Action, House Stymies Progress
July 30, 2015
During the last two months, the Senate made good use of its time to craft a multi-year surface transportation bill with an increase in funding. As is often the way for Congress, it still came down to the wire. For over a week, the U.S. Senate has been in a mad dash to complete its......
#FixTheTrustFund: Senate Dodging Potholes
July 27, 2015
Two weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would fund federal transportation projects through mid-December to avoid the July 31 legislative deadline. While this would divert a summer construction catastrophe, delaying Congressional agreement on a multi-year path forward is not an ideal option because short-term extensions make it difficult to plan......