To watch Senator Capito’s questioning, click here or the image above.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, today questioned U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the department’s budget request for FY2024.

During the hearing, Senator Capito acknowledged Secretary Buttigieg for releasing a substantially revised replacement of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) December 2021 policy memorandum, which had originally attempted to enact a wish list of policies intentionally negotiated out of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The move came after numerous requests from Senator Capito and after she announced her intent to formally challenge the memo through a Congressional Review Act (CRA).

HIGHLIGHTS:

PROJECT GRANT AGREEMENT DELAYS: “I am hearing that some of the project grant agreements are taking increasingly longer to complete. These types of delays can obviously cause project costs, delay much, and, you know, time is ticking on the on the infrastructure bill. I'm also told that the grant debriefs for people that don't get granted that are offered by the department are becoming less and less helpful. So historically, these have been able to equip our applicants to be able to re-apply in the following years to have a much more successful and impactful application. So I am concerned about these delays and these debriefs, and I wanted to bring them to your attention because they are being brought to my attention, and ask that you would identify additional ways that we can move these projects quicker, and also that we can help with the debriefs to make sure that they are as substantive as can be.”

COMING UP SHORT: “Let’s talk about ‘One Federal Decision.’ That’s in the IIJA. We’re looking at this, hopefully in a permitting and energy, and other projects. Again, I have concerns with whether you’re adhering to One Federal Decision, whether it’s working the way it’s supposed to—because this is supposed to be shortening the timelines, it’s supposed to be more efficient. It’s not skirting any environmental regulations at all. I don’t know, I have frustrations on it, and I don’t want to recommend it in a permitting bill if we can’t—you’re the test case here, and you’re coming up a bit short.”

DISCONNECT: “It’s pretty discouraging when you talk to a federal agency who can’t get—and I’m not saying this is DOT, these are different federal agencies. But there are projects that are infrastructure development—roads, water projects—and the two agencies aren’t even talking when you have to get permits from both of them… that’s the whole point of One Federal Decision is to pull those in and have somebody. But I still think there is too much disconnect between these federal agencies, and I'm not even talking about how they interplay with the state ones or even the private developers, because that's an issue as well. The least we could do is have our federal agencies interacting and talking to one another to speed the project.”

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