House transportation leaders on Wednesday released the text of a five-year surface transportation bill that would pour money into roads, bridges, transit, rail and highway safety programs while adding a new revenue stream to the Highway Trust Fund for the first time in more than three decades.
Chairman Sam Graves and Ranking Member Rick Larsen said the BUILD America 250 Act is designed to do what Congress has struggled to do for years: keep the nation’s roads and bridges funded while making sure all highway users pay for the system they use. Graves said the measure would make electric vehicle owners begin paying their fair share for road use, while Larsen said he looks forward to marking up the bill soon.
The legislation gives the bridge program its largest investment ever, with more than $50 billion dedicated to bridges alone. Graves said he is “extremely proud” of that level of spending and called the bill the most important surface transportation measure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System. Larsen said, “You can’t have a big-league economy with little-league infrastructure,” adding that the bill makes key investments from restoring aging bridges and repairing crumbling roads to building out safe, accessible transit and bike infrastructure.
The release comes after the committee spent the last year and a half holding numerous hearings and gathering input for the package. Lawmakers said over 11,000 individual policy requests were submitted as they shaped the bill, a signal of how broad the fight over federal transportation priorities has become. Committee leaders said they plan to formally introduce the legislation soon, with a later announcement to follow on the timing of markup.
The BUILD America 250 Act is being cast as a bipartisan, five-year rewrite of the nation’s surface transportation program at a moment when the old funding model is under strain. Beyond roads and bridges, it would cover transit, rail transportation and highway and motor carrier safety programs, and it includes the first ever autonomous commercial motor vehicle framework. The argument behind it is simple: if the country wants safer highways and stronger bridges, the trust fund that pays for them has to be replenished. The fight now shifts from drafting to votes, and the next test is whether lawmakers can move the bill quickly enough to keep the momentum alive.
