NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Seeks Updates on Delaware’s Federal Transportation Funding

"In this moment students are struggling. They, in particular, would benefit from this grant getting out the door."

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's Remarks

U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today participated in a hearing entitled, "The Federal Highway Administration's Proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Budget." Senator Blunt Rochester questioned Federal Highway Administrator Sean McMaster on the administration's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027. Her questions focused on the status of Delaware transportation grants, including electrical vehicle charging stations, and road safety for older adults.

Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange can be found here. A key excerpt is below:

Senator Blunt Rochester: "The second [delayed grant] I wanted to ask about is the city of Newark has a charging and fueling infrastructure grant. The over $590,000 grant will help install [electric vehicle] and e-bike charging stations. This is really important for the University of Delaware, because it's…our main campus, where students are particularly seeking the e-bike infrastructure to reduce their transportation costs. As we can imagine, if families are experiencing the [affordability challenge], students are experiencing it even more. And so, could, could you also, if you don't have that information today, could you add that to the update list as well?"

Administrator McMaster: "Happy to. Specifically for that one grant, I will tell you broadly, I do know that the awards under the CFI program are still under departmental review. I mentioned this earlier, I'll reiterate, you know, of the 3200 backlog, 90 to 95% has already moved through the system successfully. From the Secretary side, we're working aggressively to obligate those that have this program as one of the last remaining tranches of awards that that are still under review for determination, and so [we'd] be happy to follow up with you on that one, but I do know that program is still under review at the department, but we're working quickly through that."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "I would greatly appreciate that. Especially again, like I said, in this moment students are struggling. They, in particular, would benefit from this grant getting out the door."