Proposed Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill Fails to Address Needs of America’s Transportation System and Deliver Benefits to American Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released draft text from Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA). The draft legislation attacks five years of successful and cost-reducing federal investments in electric vehicle charging, clean trucks and buses, and clean transit on which communities across the country rely.

Pulling back on them now means fewer consumer choices, dirtier air, higher costs, and lost jobs, at a moment when Americans can least afford it.

Sierra Club's Priorities for Surface Transportation Reauthorization include:

• Clean Transportation: Protect consumers from unnecessary taxes that could slow the transition to electric vehicles; preserve and strengthen dedicated funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to ensure Americans in every region have reliable access to convenient charging networks; support the transition to electric transit buses, which helps reduce air pollution and lowers operating costs for transit agencies.
• Access to the Outdoors: Include the Transit to Trails Act and strengthen the Transportation Alternatives Program, Recreational Trails Program, Safe Routes to School, Neighborhood Access and Equity Program, Complete Streets, Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program, Reconnecting Communities, Federal Lands Transportation Program, Federal Lands Access Program, and Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program. Together, these programs help people safely walk, bike, roll, take transit, use trails, reach school, connect to parks and public lands, repair harmful infrastructure barriers, and maintain access to federal lands and outdoor recreation.
• Clean Supply Chains: Authorize states to harness advance purchase commitments to suit their needs for high-performance and low-pollution cement and steel; prefer innovative and low-pollution materials across all infrastructure investments; and overcome supply shocks by directly investing in domestic production in state-of-the-art steel, cement, and aluminum facilities.

Katherine García, Sierra Club Director of Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All Campaign:

"This proposal wastes a crucial opportunity to fund infrastructure programs that deliver clean, reliable, and affordable transportation options for the next five years. Cutting funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, freight electrification, and electric buses will perpetuate the harms of vehicle pollution and undermine our global competitiveness. This draft includes an irresponsible tax for EV and plug-in hybrid drivers that will fail at meaningfully closing the Highway Trust Fund shortfall. Now is the time to incentivize, not penalize, clean transportation options that curb emissions harmful to our health and climate. Rather than attacking successful, popular programs, Congress must ensure all Americans have access to a safer, healthier, and more efficient, transportation system."

Gerry James, Deputy Campaign Director of Sierra Club's Outdoors for All campaign:

"This draft misses a major opportunity to build a transportation system that gives people the dignity of reaching the places that shape their daily lives, regardless of how they get around. By terminating the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program, the bill eliminates a powerful tool for helping communities repair the damage caused by highways and unsafe transportation infrastructure that have divided neighborhoods and disconnected people from parks, trails, public lands, schools, work, and community spaces. Congress should include the Transit to Trails Act, which would help communities create and expand more public transportation options to parks, trails and other public lands. A stronger transportation bill should help people get outside, improve public health, support local economies, and remove the barriers that have kept too many communities disconnected from nature and opportunity."

Harry Manin, Sierra Club's Industrial Transformation Campaign Lead and Deputy Legislative Director for Industrial Policy & Trade:

"Prioritizing funding for a clean transportation supply chain would boost investments in U.S. industry and ensure that investments from highway construction to rail projects move quickly. Congress should help create jobs and drive private investment in the companies manufacturing the clean steel, cement, and aluminum needed to build and repair our roads, bridges, and EV infrastructure. This draft legislation completely misses this critical opportunity to ensure our transportation infrastructure is made with American materials produced in zero-pollution, world-class facilities."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.