ATA Thanks House for Passage of Long Term Highway Bill

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the American Trucking Associations praised the House of Representatives for passing a long-term highway bill that will take important steps to improve highway safety and efficiency and urged congressional leaders to quickly move the bill to the President's desk. 

"We congratulate Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio for leading the passage of a long-term, bipartisan highway bill," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "Now we urge House and Senate leaders to come together on a final bill that increases highway investment to send to President Obama this year."

ATA is encouraged that this bill included a dedicated program for funding important highway freight projects and streamlined environmental reviews of federally funded highway projects. We are also pleased that lawmakers continued to support a strong federal role in transportation by soundly rejecting a resolution that endorsed devolving the funding of roads and bridges to states. We are also pleased that the House bill underscores the primacy of federal work and safety laws. Unfortunately, both the House and Senate bills envision a continued prominent role for new Interstate tolls despite their inefficiency and unpopularity, and we hope a final bill resolves that issue by avoiding the expansion of Interstate tolling authority and, preferably, by eliminating existing loopholes. 

The House bill also takes several important safety steps including important reforms to CSA and requiring standards for hair testing for drug use.

"It is refreshing, after so much delay, that Congress appears poised to pass this important bill," said ATA Chairman Pat Thomas, UPS senior vice president of state government affairs. "But the job isn't finished and we look forward to Congress passing a long-term, well-funded bill that improves efficiency and safety on our highways."

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward 

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SOURCE American Trucking Associations

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