This week, AAPA weighed in with written testimony that followed a key U.S. House Committee hearing to address the nation’s infrastructure needs. The hearing, titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait,” kicked off the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s first hearing of the 116th Congress.

AAPA’s testimony detailed the need for an integrated approach for waterside and landside funding and policies in any infrastructure investment bill as well as an upcoming reauthorization of the FAST Act surface transportation bill. AAPA recently released its reauthorization platform for the FAST Act, which was also submitted for the record along with AAPA’s two-page chart on $66 billion in needed port-related infrastructure investments.
The Honorable Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, CA, who testified at the hearing (2:25:03), strongly endorsed AAPA’s Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) industry agreement and utilizing federal resources more efficiently. Kristin Meira, Executive Director for the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, also testified about the need to better utilize HMT funding and to leverage surface transportation resources to build out the freight network.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has reserved floor time in May to bring a yet to be released “infrastructure package” to the floor. The process is still being developed, as the new Congress continues to get settled after spending much of January organizing for the 116th Congress.
AAPA has begun to met with Congressional Committees, Members of Congress and staff on its reauthorization platform.