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Cramer: House Passes Long-term Highway Funding Bill

Press Release

Date: Dec. 3, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Transportation Agriculture and Food Infrastructure

Congressman Kevin Cramer announced today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the conference report for HR 22, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation or FAST Act. This fully -funded five-year legislation is designed to improve the nation's roads, bridges, transit systems, and rail transportation network, providing long-term certainty and more flexibility for states and local governments in their transportation construction planning. It also streamlines the approval process which has resulted in needless delays on important transportation projects. View the conference report here.

The bill raises more than $70 billion in offsets, which in combination with interest accrued on the balance within the Highway Trust Fund, is enough to keep the Fund solvent through the end of Fiscal Year 2020.

"After a decade of short-term extensions, Congress finally passed a fully-funded long-term highway bill," said Cramer. "This legislation provides state and local highway departments certainty as they design their long-range highway and mass transit plans. This certainty is especially important for cold-weather states like North Dakota with short construction seasons."

Included in the FAST Act is a House led provision repealing the $3 billion in cuts to crop insurance which were part of the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015. The restoration of the cuts in crop insurance is fulfillment of an agreement made by Speaker Paul Ryan and House Leadership prior to passage of the budget deal.

"I am grateful to Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for fulfilling their commitment to reverse the cut in crop insurance," said Cramer. "The 2014 Farm Bill was passed only after lengthy and complex negotiations between Congress, the President and producers. These cuts should never have been part of any agreement as it reopened the Farm Bill and went back on promises made to producers during the negotiations."

The conference report now heads to the Senate for consideration.


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