Leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee introduced a bipartisan, five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill as expiration of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) approaches this September.
The BUILD America 250 Act, which is short for the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure & Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act, would authorize $293.9 billion for the nation’s federal-aid highway programs from fiscal 2027 through 2031. The bill also authorizes new funding for bridges, transit, rail and other transportation programs.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Missouri), chairman of the House T&I Committee, released the BUILD America 250 Act’s text alongside Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Washington).
As the congressmen describe, the BUILD America 250 Act injects the Highway Trust Fund with its first new stream of revenue for infrastructure in more than three decades.
“I believe the BUILD America 250 Act is the most important surface transportation bill since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System,” Graves says. “Like the America 250 celebration this year, this bill is not simply about honoring our past – it’s about moving forward and building upon the legacy of our nation’s infrastructure.
According to Graves, more than $50 billion of the bill is targeted at the nation’s bridges.
“It’s the largest such investment in our history,” he says. “And the BUILD America 250 Act ensures that electric vehicle owners begin paying their fair share for the use of our roads. The bill also makes smart and targeted reforms to our surface transportation programs, focuses on strengthening our core infrastructure system, drives innovation, bolsters safety, ensures states have the flexibility they need and cuts red tape to get projects built faster.”
To prepare for the BUILD America 250 Act, the House T&I Committee held hearings across the the last year and a half and solicited input, ideas and priorities for consideration from all members of the House and the broader infrastructure stakeholder community. More than 11,000 individual policy requests were submitted.
“A commitment to bipartisan lawmaking means finding compromise,” Larsen says. “While this bill does not include every priority, I am committed to building on the last bipartisan infrastructure law by creating good-paying transportation jobs, growing the economy and safely transporting people and goods across the country by road and rail.”
House T&I Committee leaders plan to soon formally introduce the bill. At a later date, the committee will unveil plans for a legislative markup of the bill, with the ultimate goal to send the legislation from Congress to President Trump before IIJA – the nation’s current surface transportation authorization – expires on Sept. 30.
The American Cement Association was among the first construction materials trade groups to react to the BUILD America 250 Act, calling it a “successful, bipartisan deal.”
“Not only will this critical work erase years of uncertainty regarding the upkeep and future construction of essential roads, bridges and highways, but it will jumpstart the overall transportation infrastructure market, spurring the creation of new jobs and growing the demand for all domestic construction materials, including cement and concrete,” says Sean O’Neill, senior vice president of government affairs at the American Cement Association.
Related: NSSGA eyes next highway bill as IIJA expiration nears
