After a week of high tensions and continued disagreement on a path forward for passing the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cancelled a vote on the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that, among other things, would reauthorize federal-aid surface transportation programs for 5 years. The Congressional Progressive Caucus and House Republicans both declined to support the bill due to political disagreements over its connection to the separate, partisan reconciliation bill, the Build Back Better Plan. As such, surface transportation programs, including the highway, transit, and rail construction programs, lapsed for a little over a day on October 1st before House and Senate lawmakers passed a one-month extension of current law the morning of Saturday, October 2. On October 1, 3,700 federal Department of Transportation workers were furloughed, creating uncertainty in state transportation agencies across the country. On Sept. 30, AGC joined 33 other industry partners in again urging the House to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill. AGC is very disappointed that this historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure has yet again been delayed and will continue calling on the House to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as soon as possible.
For more information, contact Cory Gattie at cory.gattie@agc.org.