On the recordJune 30, 2020
As chair of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee and coauthor of H.R. 2, I am proud that we have the robust road, rail, and transit bill that our country needs to start fixing our transportation system and put Americans back to work. I want to thank Chairman DeFazio for his strong leadership on this bill. H.R. 2 is a historic bill for rail infrastructure, containing a record $60 billion investment, a 400 percent increase. It was a priority for me to include, for the first time ever, in a surface reauthorization, a commuter rail policy section. In addition to the 57 percent increase in funding for public transit, commuter railroads are made eligible for the significantly increased $7 billion CRISI grant program, and the top Amtrak stations used by commuter railroads have special access to these funds. In another first, we established a grade separation funding program at $2.5 billion, which will help alleviate the problem of blocked rail crossings across our Nation. For Amtrak, we are making a record investment of almost $30 billion. In the highway and transit division, I want to highlight the 37 percent increase in funding to our States for roads, a greater focus on improving safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, and an increase in funding for University Transportation Centers, including one on autonomous and connected vehicles.…
