Cummings Disappointed By Defeat Of Amendment To Highway Bill

Statement

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Senior Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, was disappointed today by the defeat of his amendment to H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012, colloquially known as the "highway bill." The amendment was intended to strengthen the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs for surface transportation projects.

Rep. Cummings offered the amendment with colleagues from the Committee including Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Laura Richardson (D-CA) and Donna Edwards (D-MD), to add a statutory purpose and specific findings to the bill. The amendment would also prohibit excessive or discriminatory bonding requirements and require annual adjustments to the personal net worth cap.

"Given how important our disadvantaged businesses are to creating employment opportunities in the transportation realm, it is critical that we add provisions ensuring that the personal net worth cap is raised regularly and discriminatory bonding requirements are prohibited," said Cummings. "By voting against my amendment, my Republican colleagues opposed commonsense measures to strengthen the DBE program.

"My colleagues also refused to include evidence documenting continued under-representation of minorities in contracting, business ownership, and business earnings in the transportation realm.

"Such findings are necessary to document the discrimination that continues to be a significant barrier for minority- and women-owned businesses seeking to do business in federally-assisted surface transportation markets and to explain how this ongoing discrimination merits the continuation of the disadvantaged business enterprise programs.

"My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it clear that they oppose improving the DBE program. I am greatly disappointed in that decision."

The amendment would also have required training for State Departments of Transportation regarding certification of DBEs.

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