WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Jason Lewis (MN-02) issued the following statement after H.R. 1346 passed the Transportation & Infrastructure committee unanimously. H.R. 1346 is the Lewis-Lipinski bill to undo an overreaching Department of Transportation (DOT) rule and restore local transportation planning authority: “The power that some Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) stood to gain over areas far outside their cities concerned both Democrats and Republicans, and I was pleased to work with my colleague to come up with this common-sense bill.  “Under the rule the Met Council, a MPO, could have expanded their boundaries and taxed the suburbs to help fund downtown projects. We’re protecting the ability of local decision makers to do what works for their own communities.  I look forward to working to get this bill, which has already passed the Senate, signed into law by the President.” Background: H.R. 1346 addresses a December 20th, 2016, final rule from the DOT which allowed MPOs to expand their boundaries to include the entire urbanized area as well as ‘any contiguous area’ that was expected to be urbanized within 20 years.  In some instances, these new boundaries would stretch over state lines or would force existing MPOs to merge into one entity. This is a gross overreach from the Congressional intent of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and deprives local municipalities and states of the ability to make their own decisions when planning projects that best meet their needs. The Lewis-Lipinski bill would undo that rule and restore local planning authority.  Lewis serves as the lead Republican on H.R. 1346, and is committed to working in a bipartisan manner to roll back bad policy and make sure the local needs of his constituents are served first, and not dictated by MPOs.