Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today discussed the Trump administration’s future infrastructure plans with Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao at the EPW hearing entitled: Improving America’s Transportation Infrastructure: The Road Forward.
“Most of us are very, very excited about the prospects [of an infrastructure package],” Inhofe said. “I’ve had a lot of my Democrat friends, who have a different philosophy than I have on most other issues, say that this really is what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Yesterday Inhofe, chair of the EPW Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, held a related hearing, Leveraging Federal Funding: Innovative Solutions for Infrastructure, on innovative public and private sector infrastructure funding solutions, which came up during Inhofe’s questioning.
“We had state and local witnesses talking about the different initiatives that they are taking to prioritize infrastructure, including working with the private sector,” Inhofe said. “But there was an overall agreement that the federal government must remain in the lead in our infrastructure investment.”
Replying to Inhofe asking if this was also the administration’s view, Chao replied, “We are certainly very concerned about this and we are taking the leadership on it.”
Inhofe continued to highlight the bipartisan nature of infrastructure legislation, emphasizing his work with former Sen. Barbra Boxer (D-Calif.) on the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the five-year infrastructure authorization bill that was enacted into law during 114th Congress, “I chaired the [EPW] Committee and Senator Boxer was the ranking member…there were a lot of times when she would put her foot down, but we always ended up realizing that you have to compromise when you put one of these things together.”