Letter to John A. Boehner, Speaker of the House, Nacny Pelosi, House Minority Leader - Long Term Surface Transportation Bill

Letter

Dear Mr. Speaker and Madam Leader:

A little over one year ago, I wrote to you expressing concern about funding for the Highway Trust Fund and encouraging you to work to pass a long-term reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs. In that letter, I discussed how the uncertainty in funding was threatening jobs and jeopardizing public safety in my district and across our nation.

I'm dismayed to be writing you again, one year later, to ask the same thing.

Authorization for federal surface transportation programs will expire at the end of this month, which happens to be right in the middle of the construction season and right when states have to determine whether projects will be funded for this year. Unfortunately, Congress' continued inaction and inability to pass a long-term reauthorization of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) is again delaying critical projects in my district.

Businesses across New Hampshire continue to tell me that one of the most important things we can do to help them thrive is to provide a safe and robust transportation network. A transportation network that quickly moves goods to the market and people to their jobs is the key to a strong and economically secure middle class, and support from federal surface transportation programs makes this possible.

But just this week I learned that more projects in New Hampshire are being put on hold due to the looming expiration of MAP-21 and uncertainty about federal funding. In particular, two of the projects that may be shelved this year are crucial to protecting public safety: a traffic safety corridor improvement in New Hampshire's state capital and work on the replacement of a critical bridge linking towns across the Merrimack River. We simply cannot afford to let these projects, and many other across our nation, be delayed any further.

I once again urge you to work with committee leaders in the House and Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, to pass a common sense, long-term reauthorization of our surface transportation programs before the clock runs out in 25 days. Too much is at stake and we simply cannot kick the can down the road any more.

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