On Oct. 8, AGC, along with the Wyoming Contractors Association and High Country Construction, hosted U.S. Representative and Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney for a tour of a local highway construction project in Fremont County, Wyoming.

Transportation Construction Coalition Helps Secure Support
This week, 253 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richie Neal (D-Mass.) calling for a fix to the Highway Trust as part of any comprehensive tax reform proposal from the Ways & Means Committee.  AGC thanks all of our members as well as TCC members who contacted their Representatives through Hardhat for Highways, in-district visits and the TCC fly-in.
AGC, along with our partners in the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC), worked closely with the letter’s authors – Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia) – to help secure support from a majority of the Republicans (119) and the Democrats (134).
The letter was significant for many reasons including the fact that it sent a clear message that a majority of both House Republicans and Democrats want to see an end to general fund transfers that federal highway and transit programs have relied on since 2008 and, instead, are calling for any Highway Trust Fund solution that “entail[s] a long-term, dedicated, user-based revenue stream.”
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

Tell your Rep. to Sign Bipartisan Letter Supporting Long-Term Fix – DEADLINE EXTENDED
A bipartisan group of congressmen are circulating a letter asking House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richard Neal (Mass.) to fix the Highway Trust Fund as a part of any tax reform package the committee considers. Contact your representative and urge them to sign this letter, which is being circulated by Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia). As of press time, 216 members of the House have signed onto the Graves/Holmes Norton letter (check to see if your representatives has signed on).
If you recall, Representatives Graves and Holmes Norton circulated a similar letter last year (check here to see if your Rep. signed the 2016 letter) that was signed by 130 bipartisan members of the House. The FAST ACT provides funding certainty for the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal year 2020. However, following the FAST Act's expiration, the Highway Trust Fund will face cuts of approximately $18 billion per year. A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund needs to be found in order to eliminate these cuts.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

Tell your Rep. to Sign Bipartisan Letter in Support of Long-Term Fix – DEADLINE TODAY
A bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives are circulating a letter asking House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richard Neal (Mass.) to fix the Highway Trust Fund as a part of any tax reform package the committee considers. Contact your representative and urge them to sign this letter, which is being circulated by Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia).  As of press time, 156 members of the House have signed onto the Graves/Holmes Norton letter (check to see if your representatives has signed on).
If you recall, Representatives Graves and Holmes Norton circulated a similar letter last year (check here to see if your Rep. signed the 2016 letter) that was signed by 130 bipartisan members of the House. The FAST ACT provides funding certainty for the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal year 2020.  However, following the FAST Act's expiration, the Highway Trust Fund will face cuts of approximately $18 billion per year.  A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund needs to be found in order to eliminate these cuts.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.orgo or (202) 547-8892.

Tell your Rep. to Sign Bipartisan Letter in Support of Long-Term Fix – DEADLINE MAY 19
As the push continues for Congress to fix the Highway Trust Fund, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives are circulating a letter calling for a permanent Highway Trust Fund fix to be included in any tax reform package. If you recall, Representatives Graves and Holmes Norton circulated a similar letter last year (check here to see if your Rep. signed the 2016 letter) that was signed by 130 bipartisan members of the House. Help us to significantly increase that number by contacting your Representative and asking them to sign on to the letter. So far, 111 members of the House have signed onto this year’s letter.  See if your member has signed on and, if so, send an email thanking them for their support.
Attendees at next week’s TCC Fly-In will be bringing this message to Capitol Hill and urging their House representative to sign onto the Graves/Holmes Norton letter. In addition to signing the Graves/Holmes Norton letter, attendees will also be asking their members of Congress to fully fund the FAST Act’s authorized levels for FY 2018 and increase airport infrastructure investment as part of the FAA authorization.
The FAST ACT provides funding certainty for the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal year 2020.  However, following the FAST Act's expiration, the Highway Trust Fund will face cuts of approximately $18 billion per year.  A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund needs to be found in order to eliminate these cuts.
The letter – which is being circulated by Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia) – is asking House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richard Neal (Mass.) to fix the Highway Trust Fund in any tax reform package that the committee considers.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.orgo or (202) 547-8892.

Tell your Rep. to Sign Bipartisan Letter to Support a Long-Term Highway Trust Fund Fix
As the push continues for Congress to fix the Highway Trust Fund, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives are circulating a letter calling for a permanent Highway Trust Fund fix to be included in any tax reform package. If you recall, Representatives Graves and Holmes-Norton circulated a similar letter last year (check here to see if your Rep. signed the 2016 letter) that was signed by 130 bipartisan members of the House. Help us to significantly increase that number by contacting your Representative and asking them to sign on to the Graves/Holmes-Norton letter. So far, 91 members of the House have signed onto the letter.  See if your member has signed on and, if so, send an email thanking them for their support.
The FAST ACT provides funding certainty for the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal year 2020.  However, following the FAST Act's expiration, the Highway Trust Fund will face cuts of approximately $18 billion per year.  A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund needs to be found in order to eliminate these cuts.
The letter – which is being circulated by Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia) – is asking House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richard Neal (Mass.) to fix the Highway Trust Fund in any tax reform package that the committee considers.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org.

Tell your Rep. to Sign Bipartisan Letter to Support a Long-Term Highway Trust Fund Fix
As the push continues for Congress to fix the Highway Trust Fund, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives are circulating a letter calling for a permanent Highway Trust Fund fix to be included in any tax reform package. If you recall, Representatives Graves and Holmes-Norton circulated a similar letter last year (check here to see if your Rep. signed the 2016 letter) that was signed by 130 bipartisan members of the House. Help us to significantly increase that number by contacting your Representative and asking them to sign on to the Graves/Holmes-Norton letter.
The FAST ACT provides funding certainty for the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal year 2020.  However, following the FAST Act's expiration, the Highway Trust Fund will face cuts of approximately $18 billion per year.  A permanent fix for the Highway Trust Fund needs to be found in order to eliminate these cuts.
The letter – which is being circulated by Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia) – is asking House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richard Neal (Mass.) to fix the Highway Trust Fund in any tax reform package that the committee considers.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

This week, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Peter DeFazio (Ore), introduced the AGC-supported Investing in America: A Penny for Progress Act, which would provide approximately $500 billion – a 30 percent increase – in infrastructure investment for federal surface transportation programs. The bill finances these investments by authorizing Invest in America 30-year Treasury bonds, annually, through 2030. The bonds will be repaid through indexing federal gas and diesel taxes to the National Construction Cost Index and reduced motor fuel usage for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. According to Rep DeFazio’s office, the bill is estimated to raise the gas and diesel takes by approximately 1 cent per year and includes a hard cap of 1.5 cents per year.  For more information on the bill and a full list of supporters, click here.
While AGC supports Rep DeFazio’s legislation, which addresses our surface transportation needs through 2030, we will continue to focus our efforts on providing  a permanent solution for the chronic Highway Trust Fund shortfall.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

Trust Fund to Remain Solvent until 2020
This week the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook for years 2017-2027.  Included in the report – which shows the deficit increasing and non-discretionary spending shrinking – is an analysis on transportation spending.  CBO projects that both the highway and mass transit accounts of the Highways Trust Fund will remain solvent until the end of the FAST Act in September 2020.  However, they go on to predict that the Trust Fund will be facing a gap of $144 billion to remain solvent to 2027.  This means that if the FAST Act were to be reauthorized for a full five years, the Trust Fund would be short $95 billion. A six-year reauthorization would require about $120 billion.
Absent any real, dedicated new revenues, the Highway Trust Fund will be in competition for a shrinking pot of non-discretionary funding to fill the gap between revenue going into the Trust Fund and the current spending levels. The CBO report furthers underscores why AGC and other transportation stakeholders are pushing for a fix to the Highway Trust Fund in any future infrastructure or tax proposals.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

Signals Support for Federal Spending and Addressing the Highway Trust Fund
The Senate Commerce Committee held a confirmation hearing this week for President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao.  Ms. Chao – who previously served as the Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush and the Deputy Secretary of Transportation in President George H.W. Bush’s Administration – is expected to help shape an infrastructure plan that has been promised by President-elect Trump.  Her confirmation to the position is all but guaranteed and is likely to occur soon after Trump takes office on January 20.
Secretary Chao offered no specifics of what a Trump infrastructure plan would include but she did acknowledge that the challenges with any plan lie in how it is paid for. During the hearing she expressed the belief that both direct federal spending and private financing will be a part of the incoming administration’s proposal.  She went on the say that seeing a patch for the Highway Trust Fund – which will be facing insolvency in 2020 – will be a “top priority” for the Department.  Additionally, Chao said one of her first orders of business will be to create an infrastructure task force.
Although the hearing was short on specifics, Secretary Chao made it clear she plans on working closely with Congress as the Secretary of Transportation. AGC supports Secretary Chao’s nomination and looks forward to working with her to promote a pro-construction agenda at the Department of Transportation.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.