Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2018

HDT JANUARY 2018 12 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM Can bipartisan group pave the way to better highways David Cullen Executive Editor dcullen@ truckinginfo com David covers legislative and regulatory issues for Truckinginfo com and HDTs monthly Washington Watch as well as writing substantive features for the magazine on management issues equipment trends and more He can reached at dcullen@ truckinginfo com or 203 371 0040 ecretary of Transportation Elaine Chao told the American Trucking Associations annual meeting in October You wont see an infrastructure funding proposal until after Congress reforms the tax code She admitted that she had at one point hoped to roll out the administrations infrastructure plan in detail by late fall But the disaster that was the attempt by the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill egged on by President Trump to roll back Obamacare earlier last year erased that timeline As of this writing in the midst of the run up to the holidays and more than a year since President Trump first promised to send Congress a trillion dollar infrastructure plan Capitol Hill watchers were holding their breath to see whether the supposedly Republican controlled Congress delivers on its promise of passing a gargantuan tax cut bill by the end of 2017 Whatever the outcome trucking can only hope at the start of this year that the attention of Congress and even that of our mercurial POTUS might shift to how to fix and advance the abysmal state of the nations infrastructure There is some good news on that front emanating from the House of Representatives and courtesy of a little known group of moderate Congressmen hailing from both sides of the aisle who in 2013 formed the Problem Solvers Caucus Its aim is simple To push for bipartisan solutions to legislative and policy issues A letter sent by the Problem Solvers Caucus to President Trump early last year listed 35 members 18 Republicans and 17 Democrats The co chairs of the group are Reps Tom Reed R NY and Josh Gottheimer D NJ In the fall the group quietly held five meetings on infrastructure including one with administration officials to collect information on how best to forge a bipartisan path to rebuilding infrastructure The Problem Solvers Caucus wants to drive the agenda on infrastructure in the words of Rep John Katko R NY co chair of the caucuss infrastructure task force according to a Politico report He said the caucus aims to issue a report outlining its infrastructure approach timed to be ready to brandish when tax reform is out of the way Were going to be loud about this Katko said after the caucuss Nov 30 meeting Were going to be ready to roll At one of their meetings the caucus heard about potential funding mechanisms from former Gov Ed Rendell D PA and former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood R IL who co chair the advocacy group Building Americas Future What I said in there was this year has been a missed opportunity for infrastructure LaHood told reporters after the meeting per a report by The Hill If this Congress the White House and the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill had started out with infrastructure and a way to pay for it that bill would have been passed and hundreds of people would have been working on bridges and roads LaHood also remarked that he had spoken multiple times with White House infrastructure adviser D J Gribbin and Secretary Chao but said they need a signal to do something and that signal has been dark all year long A wonky report issued by an obscure but dedicated band of bipartisan lawmakers may well strike the match thats sorely needed to shed some long overdue light on improving our nations roads bridges and all the rest of its insufficient infrastructure WASHINGTON WATCH On Capitol Hill the little known Problem Solvers Caucus aims to drive the agenda on infrastructure S