Washington, D.C. —Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s budget, highlighting aspects of the budget within the Committee’s jurisdiction.
“Despite pledging to fight for working families and invest in our communities, President Trump’s budget fails to deliver. Not only does his budget slash badly-needed funding to help make sure people get clean water, his vision for ‘making America great’ would also zero out programs to restore and protect critical bodies of water, from South Florida to the Gulf of Mexico, all while gutting the Army Corps’ budget by billions, slashing transit investments via the Capital Investments Grant program, and putting Amtrak into a downward spiral, putting critical routes at risk.
“One positive aspect of the President’s budget is that it signals he is interested in at least talking about the need to invest in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. But without further details, it’s hard to say whether he is more interested in the status quo or whether he actually wants to move forward with innovative solutions that would tackle carbon pollution in the transportation sector, create jobs and support American manufacturing, and bring our outdated infrastructure into the 21st century and beyond. I have laid out my vision for what would be a transformative approach to the way we move people and goods in this country and am drafting legislation right now. I welcome the input of anyone who is truly interested in making our infrastructure smarter, safer, and made to last.”