Coalition Letter to Congressional Leaders on IIJA Advance Appropriations

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Dear Chair Collins, Vice Chair Murray, Chair Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Chairman Capito, Ranking Member Whitehouse, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Warren, Chairman Cruz, and Ranking Member Cantwell:

As Congress continues work on the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill, we write to urge you to match or exceed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act investments for all transportation modes. The undersigned organizations represent governmental, industry, and labor stakeholders that develop, own, build, operate, maintain, and use our nation's transportation networks and infrastructure.

Sustained, predictable federal support is essential to addressing aging infrastructure, modernizing critical assets, and ensuring communities and businesses nationwide benefit from safe, reliable, and efficient transportation. Multi-year certainty gives state and local agencies, engineering firms, contractors, suppliers, and operators the ability to plan and deliver projects more efficiently, reduce costs, and maintain skilled, stable workforces. It also provides private sector partners the confidence to invest in materials, equipment, facilities, and employees - knowing that federal funding will remain available throughout the lifecycle of major projects.

Whether constructing a new bridge, rehabilitating a transit facility, or delivering a rail or multimodal project, predictability is fundamental to success. The last surface reauthorization bill (P.L. 117-58) recognized this by pairing increased authorization levels - reflecting the need for greater investment in our infrastructure - with advance appropriations that provided predictability across multiple fiscal years. Congress made these advance appropriations available for a host of highway, transit, bridge, intermodal freight, airport, and rail programs that require reliable federal support, such as:

• Replacing, rehabilitating, preserving, and protecting bridges.
• Investing in regionally significant multimodal freight and highway projects that improve the movement of freight and people through rural and urban areas.
• Opening funding to local communities for projects that improve economic competitiveness, increase road safety, and others that improve local and regional infrastructure.
• Constructing new public transit rail lines, replacing aging buses, expanding ferry service in rural communities, rehabilitating outdated facilities and infrastructure, including upgrading old stations to provide access to riders with disabilities.
• Funding major railroad construction projects, rolling stock procurements, and targeted capital projects that enhance Amtrak services, create a safer, reliable, more efficient freight and intercity passenger rail network, and support railroad suppliers and manufacturers.

This stability was especially consequential for modes that otherwise lack a reliable source of funding, such as rail, multimodal, and port programs. Prior to the last reauthorization measure, these modes were subject to the year-to-year uncertainty of annual appropriations. Through the guaranteed funding of advance appropriations, businesses and state and local governments have been able to plan ahead, assemble matching funds, and complete necessary steps for readying grant applications. This predictability reduces barriers to participation and produces efficiencies that lower long-term costs.

Building on the last authorization bill's levels and predictable federal funding through advance appropriations for all modes will help to strengthen America's infrastructure delivery system and draw private sector investment based on longer-term guaranteed project pipelines to ensure the greatest return on taxpayer investment.

While that bill marked a turning point for federal infrastructure investments, it represented an initial down payment on addressing decades of underinvestment. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates that more than $3.5 trillion is needed to bring surface transportation infrastructure to a state of good repair.¹ Failing to maintain P. L. 117-58 investments as the new baseline - including preserving the predictability provided by advance appropriations - would undermine the progress already underway and cost American industries and workers lost opportunity.

To date, the last surface measure enabled more than 60,000 infrastructure projects across all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories, supporting nearly 750,000 jobs annually in construction, manufacturing, transportation, and related industries.² Continuing these investments would support workforce stability, move projects from planning to construction, and ensure delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects.

As you continue work on the next surface reauthorization, we urge you to meet or exceed existing funding levels, including advance appropriations, that offer all transportation modes a stable, predictable source of funding necessary for long-term investment, effective project delivery, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

Sincerely,

Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD)
American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA)
American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)
American Council of Engineering Companies
American Public Transportation Association
American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA)
Association for Commuter Transportation
Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Coalition for America's Gateways & Trade Corridors
Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
Commuter Rail Coalition
Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals (IRPT)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
National Association of Counties
National Association of Regional Councils
National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE)
National Industrial Transportation League (NITL)
National League of Cities
National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association
Rail Passengers Association
States for Passenger Rail Coalition (SPRC)
United for Infrastructure

1 ASCE estimates that surface transportation needs $3.549 trillion of investments over the 2024-2033 timeframe https://infrastructurereportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Full-Report-2025-Natl-IRC-WEB.pdf

2 https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2024-09/BIL.pdf