{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://welch.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/hoyer-welch-house-democrats-send-letter-speaker-ryan-need-robust-long", "Hoyer, Welch, House Democrats Send Letter to Speaker Ryan on Need for Robust, Long-Term Surface Transportation Funding", "2015-11-27", "2015", "2015-11", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "welch.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Congressman Peter Welch (VT) and 60 Democrats in sending the following letter to Speaker Ryan on Wednesday about the need for robust, long-term funding for infrastructure repairs and improvements that will strengthen America's economic competitiveness.\nTo read the letter, click here or see below.\nNovember 25, 2015 Hon. Paul D. Ryan  \n\tSpeaker  \n\tU.S. House of Representatives  \n\tH-232, The Capitol  \n\tWashington, DC 20515\nDear Mr. Speaker: As the House and Senate work to finalize a long term surface transportation conference report, we urge you to support the higher funding levels needed to strengthen our surface transportation infrastructure and improve our competitiveness. There is bipartisan agreement that our transportation infrastructure is crumbling because the federal investment has failed to keep pace with our growing transportation needs. A quarter of our bridges are deficient; more than half our road are rated below good condition, and congestion increasingly burdens commerce. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our infrastructure a nearly failing grade of D+. Prior to MAP-21, successive surface transportation bills consistently provided significant increases in funding. Unfortunately, while the Senate bill does contain small increases above the current inadequate baseline spending levels, neither the House nor the Senate version of H.R. 22 identifies or guarantees the funding sources sufficient to maintain our current transportation infrastructure, let alone the upgrades that are so urgently needed to expand and modernize that infrastructure. Given this shortfall in funding, we urge you to join us in supporting a conference report that packs the most punch by shortening the duration of the reauthorization  perhaps to three or four years instead of six -- and increasing the transportation investment in each of those years. This is not a novel idea: the Chamber of Commerce recently wrote, The Chamber urges you to ensure that the conference report maximizes the benefits it would provide, rather than focusing on the number of years the transportation authorization would last. Providing increased funding for projects within less than the six year duration of this bill would help ensure long overdue needs are addressed in a more timely basis. We believe this approach will create jobs, improve our international competitiveness, make our roads safer, and provide American families and businesses with better transportation alternatives. Sincerely yours, Steny Hoyer  \n\tPeter Welch  \n\tJames E. Clyburn  \n\tJoseph Crowley  \n\tBrad Ashford  \n\tAmi Bera  \n\tDonald Beyer  \n\tEarl Blumenauer  \n\tMadeleine Z. Bordallo  \n\tBrendan Boyle  \n\tJulia Brownley  \n\tTony Crdenas  \n\tKathy Castor  \n\tYvette Clarke  \n\tWm. Lacy Clay  \n\tJim Costa  \n\tElijah E. Cummings  \n\tJohn K. Delaney  \n\tMark DeSaulnier  \n\tTed Deutch  \n\tMichael F. Doyle  \n\tTammy Duckworth  \n\tElizabeth H. Esty  \n\tSam Farr  \n\tRuben Gallego  \n\tJohn Garamendi  \n\tAlan Grayson  \n\tGene Green  \n\tRaul M. Grijalva  \n\tLuis V. Gutirrez  \n\tAlcee L. Hastings  \n\tBrian Higgins  \n\tRuben Hinojosa  \n\tMichael Honda  \n\tWilliam R. Keating  \n\tRobin Kelly  \n\tDaniel T. Kildee  \n\tDerek Kilmer  \n\tAnn Kirkpatrick  \n\tAnn M. Kuster  \n\tBrenda L. Lawrence  \n\tBarbara Lee  \n\tTed Lieu  \n\tAlan S. Lowenthal  \n\tMichelle Lujan Grisham  \n\tJerry McNerney  \n\tGregory W. Meeks  \n\tGrace Meng  \n\tGwen Moore  \n\tSeth Moulton  \n\tDonald Norcross  \n\tEd Perlmutter  \n\tScott Peters  \n\tPedro R. Pierluisi  \n\tMark Pocan  \n\tJared Polis  \n\tMike Quigley  \n\tKathleen M. Rice  \n\tLinda Snchez  \n\tBobby Scott  \n\tTerri Sewell  \n\tEric Swalwell", 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://welch.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/hoyer-welch-house-democrats-send-letter-speaker-ryan-need-robust-long"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8423519320785999, "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"}