Washington, D.C. – Alaska Congressman Don Young, former Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today shared his comments following the passage of H.R 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which provides a clean extension of federal highway, transit and safety programs through May 31, 2015 and directs additional funding for the Highway Trust Fund. The bill passed by a vote of 367 to 55.
“As a former Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I understand the vital importance of this short-term transportation package that ensures our nation’s many infrastructure projects remain underway and keeps the Highway Trust Fund solvent in the coming months,” said Congressman Don Young. “While these types of temporary transportation extensions prevent states from efficiently using funds through long-term planning, letting this funding expire next month would have severely jeopardized countless construction projects and left more than ten thousand American jobs in limbo. This short-term bill gets us over the next bump in the road, but Congress must wake up and understand the need to find long-term solutions to our transportation shortfalls. We must once and for all pass and fully fund a transportation bill to support our many infrastructure needs.”
Congressman Young, credited with passing the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU), the last Highway and Transportation authorization and funding bill to provide long-term certainty, spoke on the House floor prior to passage of H.R. 5021.
