{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://keller.house.gov/media/in-the-news/infrastructure-improvements-must-be-priority", "Infrastructure improvements must be a priority", "2020-11-23", "2020", "2020-11", "Republican", "Senate", "PA", "Fred Keller", "K000395", "keller.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "State Rep. Tim Hennessey, the chairman of the House Transportation committee, said the proposal to toll Pennsylvania bridges is still in the preliminary stages. It's not something people need to be alarmed about now, he said.\nThat means it is exactly the time to be worried, or at least very aware of the proposal.\nLawmakers across the party spectrum said last week they support a move by a public-private partnership board that would allow tolling of traffic on major bridges in Pennsylvania. The move, they said, is necessary to help pay for repairs to bridges and roads across the state's expansive road map.\nHow about instead of that movement, we make sure the tax dollars already allocated to repairing roads actually do it, while also finding a way to make rehabilitating the nation's crumbling infrastructure a national priority?\nThe needs of the interstate system are staggering, State Rep. Mike Carroll, a Democrat from Luzerne County said. There's a reason so many states are raising the gas tax and looking to increase tolls.\nAmong the issues hindering bridge and road renovation in Pennsylvania are the continued allocating of liquid fuel funds  to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year  away from repairs and to the state police, and a lack of funding from the federal government.\nThe first issue is something the General Assembly in Harrisburg is going to have to fix on its own and sooner rather than later. Pennsylvanians, we have stated in this space previously, were amendable to the nation's highest gas tax  now second-highest behind California  as long as the money was spent fixing potholes and repairing crumbling bridges.\nThe second will require a federal initiative. All of the lawmakers The Daily Item hosted for editorial boards during the lead up to the election, from state Rep. David Rowe to state Sen. John Gordner and Congressmen Fred Keller and Dan Meuser all said infrastructure  roads, bridges, rail and even broadband internet  is something every politician at every level of government supports.\nIt's never flashy and headline getting, but a huge road project creates jobs and presents numerous benefits to an area. Along with the construction jobs, other businesses may pop up around the road work, creating additional jobs. It can ease traffic patterns, which can improve the aesthetic in neighborhoods and even bump up property values.\nSure these projects can be an inconvenience  just ask home and business owners in Northumberland  but in the long run they make life better more often than not.\nThe costs of these projects aren't going down anytime soon. The more we delay, the more costly they become.\nTolls aren't the answer. A local, state and national focus is the way forward.\nNOTE: Opinions expressed in The Daily Item's editorials are the consensus of the publisher, top newsroom executives and community members of the editorial board. Today's was written by Managing Editor Bill Bowman.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://keller.house.gov/media/in-the-news/infrastructure-improvements-must-be-priority"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5062382444739342, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}