Dems beat back amendments to transportation, water bill

September 15, 2021

After 15 hours of fierce debate, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 37-29 along party lines to advance a sprawling and divisive $60 billion bill that would boost water infrastructure, transportation equity, climate resilience, transit and rail.

The legislation is part of the Democrats' broad $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. Among other provisions, the bill would provide $10 billion for a program to enhance transit options and affordable housing.

It would invest another $10 billion for high-speed rail, $6 billion for surface transportation projects and $4 billion to slash transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. The measure would offer $3.7 billion for water infrastructure with a focus on climate resilience and providing funds for disadvantaged communities.

Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) described the negotiation process as “tortuous,” and ranking Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri said the hearing was likely to be the “most partisan” one yet in an “uncharacteristically” partisan session for the committee.

DeFazio has been angry about his lack of input into the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. And yesterday he highlighted the restrictions of the budget reconciliation process, meant to allow Democrats to bypass a Senate filibuster.

“There are things I would have funded that we were told they just did not have the money to fund, particularly in energy and public works, because a lot of their money is being diverted to a program outside of their jurisdiction at the behest of Senate leadership,” he said.

GOP lawmakers slammed the bill as “reckless,” “expensive” and even “disgusting,” and introduced scores of amendments concerning the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, stopping COVID-19 vaccine mandates, prohibiting Critical Race Theory education programs, increasing disaster relief, and penalizing state and municipalities who have cut their police budgets, among other efforts.

"Does anybody even know who wrote this bill?" said Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas. “It reads as if it were written by mythical TV evangelists from the church of climatology."

Republican lawmakers took issue with the bedrock measure of the bill that would invest $10 billion in high-speed rail. Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California introduced an amendment that would strike the provision altogether, citing the ongoing funding hikes associated with a contentious high-speed rail line in California.

But Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), acting as chair, said the $10 billion is not intended to go to California but rather is a national grant program. “This $10 billion is a competitive grant process,” he said. “It will not be designated towards any particular project; each project would have to compete on their own merits.”

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) expressed skepticism, calling the allocation a “$10 billion dollar pet project for Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi.” The amendment was not adopted.

Graves also blasted committee Democrats for not including funds for wildfire and hurricane recovery in the bill and offered an amendment that would provide more disaster relief funds.

“In the community that I represent, we're still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Ida, getting pounded by Nicolas right now, and this bill doesn’t do anything,” he said. “There's absolutely nothing for those folks.”

DeFazio expressed sympathy for the measure but said there is currently $41.3 billion in the federal disaster relief fund with another $17.1 billion likely on its way through a continuing spending resolution.

He also noted that additional funding would push the bill beyond its allocation, it would have to be taken out of other measures, and it would not be matched by the Senate. “So [the amendment] wouldn't happen anyway, would be unnecessary, and fruitless,” DeFazio said.

Water, Army Corps provisions
The markup veered into the Biden administration’s exit from Afghanistan, with the committee unanimously approving by voice vote an amendment from Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs of Ohio that would require a report on equipment the Coast Guard and Army Corps left in Afghanistan.

The proposal passed after DeFazio allowed Republicans to tweak the language, quelling his fears that the amendment would block funding for the agencies, which are already hungry for funds and facing long backlogs.

The markup also bled into a host of water issues. One amendment focused on the ongoing debate about the Biden administration’s ongoing effort to re-craft a regulation determining which waters fall under federal jurisdiction after EPA scrapped the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule.

The committee rejected an amendment from Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) that would have extended EPA’s public comment period on its new rule and required the agency to conduct a study on how much it will cost to implement a new definition of “waters of the U.S.” Other Republicans chimed in, arguing that past iterations of the rule have overregulated agricultural land and emphasizing EPA’s work going forward needs to be carefully vetted.

The committee rejected an amendment from LaMalfa against an environmental impact statement on the removal of dams along the Klamath River until the Army Corps completes a review of sediment issues tied to the 125-foot Condit Dam located on the White Salmon River in the state of Washington.

LaMalfa and other Republicans argued the removal of the dams shouldn’t be rushed given potential negative impacts on the grid and fish populations, and “big questions” about what’s behind the dams, including massive amounts of sediment and potentially heavy metals.

California Rep. Jared Huffman (D) shot back that the language was an attempt to derail the Army Corps’ removal of obsolete dams on the river that provide no benefits but instead warm the river and fuel algal blooms

Focus on EVs
Democratic lawmakers voted to reject an amendment from Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) that would allocate $1 billion to expand the number of parking options for long-haul truckers because the funding would supplant funding for community climate incentive grants.

The conversation turned to electric vehicles when Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) offered an amendment that would prohibit funds being used to purchase, import or subsidize minerals, namely from countries that rely on child labor or forced labor.

Stauber, a fierce backer of domestic mining, said as the demand for cobalt needed for electric vehicles and new technologies increased, the burden will “certainly fall on the shoulders of the small children that are forced to slave away in the mines."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called this argument a “cynical attempt to protect carbon polluting industries like oil and gas.” “The reality of this amendment is that it would seek to stop the development of EV infrastructure,” she said. “Existing law already prohibits importation of goods subject to forced labor.”

The amendment was amended by DeFazio and passed by voice vote.

Contentious debate erupted over a proposal from Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) that would prohibit National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funds to be used for traffic safety enforcement by states and local municipalities that have voted to cut funding for their police departments.

Other amendments blocked

  • An amendment from Republican Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida to prohibit the Federal Emergency Management Agency from using funds to support immigration and migration along the southwestern border of the United States.
  • An amendment from Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) to strike a $50 million allocation for establishing new greenhouse gas performance measurement requirements for states.
  • An amendment from Westerman against importing more oil from OPEC countries until domestic production is exhausted. The provision would encourage construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude from Canada for international markets.
  • An amendment from Republican Del. Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico to boost funding for highways and bridges for the territory.
  • An amendment from Graves to approve $3.5 million for emergency relief for the maritime transportation system.
  • An amendment from Graves to take $2 billion from transit program to assist victims of Hurricane Ida.
  • An amendment by Graves to dedicate $500 million to harden critical facilities, such as hospitals, specialized medical facilities and energy equipment.
  • An amendment from Graves to set aside $50 million for emergency operation center resilience.
  • An amendment from Republican Rep. Brain Mast of Florida that would bar the U.S. from purchasing minerals from Afghanistan.

By:  Arianna Skibell, Hannah Northey
Source: E&E News