Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Charles Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, and the Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader - Lamb Leads Bipartisan Effort to Fund State Departments of Transportation

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader Schumer, and Leader McConnell:
We look forward to partnering with you to rebuild our transportation and infrastructure systems, which
have been significantly adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As Congress considers
comprehensive infrastructure legislation in the months ahead, we urge you to include additional dedicated
funding for state Departments of Transportation (DOTs). According to the most recent data from the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), state DOTs will face a
$28 billion budget shortfall from FY2020-2024 due to the pandemic. We are pleased that the end-of-year
omnibus bill (H.R. 133) included a critical $10 billion down payment in relief for state DOTs and urge
you to provide the additional $18 billion needed.
This issue has strong support from numerous stakeholder groups representing business, labor, industry,
and state and local governments. We must invest in state DOTs to meet the needs of our constituents who
rely upon our transportation systems to get to their jobs and their doctor's appointments, and for our
emergency responders and frontline employees. State DOTs also employ our constituents and support
hundreds of thousands of American workers who rely on planned state DOT contracts to remain on the
job and off of unemployment. This past summer, we were joined by 135 of our colleagues in a bipartisan
letter urging direct support for state DOTs.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) cancelled or postponed approximately $600
million in bids because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Rep. Lamb's district alone, this meant the
cancellation of construction of a bridge ramp, pavement work, and bike and pedestrian pathways.
PennDOT projects continued shortfalls well into 2021. They have already provided us with a list of the
next slate of projects they will have to cancel if we do not act. These cancellations have led to lost
construction jobs, held by union crews earning the prevailing wage, at a time when so many Americans
are struggling to hold on to gainful employment and make ends meet for their families. Left without
needed support, PennDOT has also announced it will resort to tolling additional bridges, because they
have no other way to fund desperately needed repairs.
Other state DOTs report similar problems. For example, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)
has reported significant revenue losses due to lower gasoline and diesel sales since the COVID-19
pandemic began. In FY2020, ODOT reported a $239 million revenue loss and projects an additional
$300 million loss by June 2021. These significant losses have an immediate impact on the state of Ohio.
In California, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic reductions in travel across the country and the
state, and they are projecting a loss of $1.5 billion through 2024-25. This situation means lost safety and
road improvements and increased costs for constituents.
As you know, many of our roads, bridges, and public transit systems were already in a state of disrepair
before COVID-19 compounded budget shortfalls and exacerbated underinvestment issues that have held
our country back for too long. The recently announced 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure
provides our national infrastructure with a C- grade and our roads with a D.1
We must do more. An
additional $18 billion is the amount of funding needed for pre-planned projects to proceed, allowing us to
make an immediate positive impact. This federal support would help maintain current local infrastructure
investments and planning, a key component as Congress works on a larger, multi-year surface
transportation infrastructure package this year. Failure to support State DOTs at this critical juncture
would mitigate the full effectiveness an infrastructure package could have and dampen the
implementation those vital federal resources would have on state and local public works projects. Again,
we are grateful of the $10 billion down payment in H.R. 133, and we implore you to further equip our
state DOTs with this critical funding. We remain committed to working with you to achieve our shared
goal of building our country back better for the American people.
Sincerely,
______________