releases: http://barletta.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-approves-highway-bill-with-barletta-priorities
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| http://barletta.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-approves-highway-bill-with-barletta-priorities | House Approves Highway Bill with Barletta Priorities | 2015-12-03 | 2015 | 2015-12 | Republican | House | PA | Lou Barletta | B001269 | barletta.house.gov | legacy | Still Argues Serious Reforms Must Come for Dependable Funding Source WASHINGTON Congressman Lou Barletta, PA-11, today voted for final passage of the conference report on a five-year, $305 billion Highway Bill, which is the result of negotiations between House and Senate transportation leaders in which Barletta was a key participant. Barletta, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was among House conferees appointed to negotiate the particulars of the plan, which includes many of Barlettas highest priorities for the U.S. transportation system and its infrastructure. While voting for the bill, Barletta did express disappointment that the bill was a missed opportunity to develop serious reforms in transportation funding. The House passed the conference report by a massive bipartisan vote of 359-to-65. The conference report now moves on to the Senate where it is also expected to enjoy broad bipartisan support. The priorities Barletta succeeded in cementing in the bill are detailed below. He issued the following statement for the House record: Today is a historic day, as we are voting for a five year surface transportation reauthorization bill that provides critical investment to our roads and bridges. This will help keep America competitive and provide certainty to states and communities planning infrastructure projects. However, it is irresponsible that neither the House nor the Senate has worked on serious reforms. We have not adjusted the user fee for our infrastructure in 20 years or considered new, sustainable revenue streams. Instead, we have spent valuable time searching for short term gimmicks. Make no mistake; I am disappointed with the offsets in this bill. We should not be robbing the banks or Customs to pay for our roads and bridges. This is fiscally irresponsible. At some point, we have to say enough is enough. That time has come. We need a long-term, robustly funded bill. We missed an opportunity with this legislation, but we in Congress must work together to continue finding common ground on innovative ideas to ensure the Highway Trust Fund has a sustainable revenue source. We cannot allow our children and grandchildren to pay for the investments we should be making now. As a Conferee, I was happy to work with Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member DeFazio, and my Senate Colleagues on important roadway safety issues, such as preventing heavier trucks from driving on our local roads. This bill fully funds the Highway Safety Improvement Program, which invests in infrastructure like guardrails, rumble strips, and retroreflective signs. While you will never read the headline, Rumble strip saves family of four, this program saves lives every day and for that reason alone, I urge my colleagues to support this bill today. Additionally, I was pleased to see common-sense provisions that I championed included in the final agreement. For example, I introduced the Local Farm Vehicle Flexibility Act to make sure farm vehicles are not regulated like long haul trucks. Today, this highway bill includes language to prevent farmers from getting tickets for driving from field to field without covering their load. It makes crude oil being transported by freight rail safer and gives first responders more time to react in the unlikely event of a derailment by including top fitting protections for the pressure relief valves. It also includes language that I strongly support to reduce paperwork burdens on concrete truck drivers. I worked with my fellow conferees to encourage the use of U.S. iron and steel in rolling stock frames and car shells. This provision will increase use of U.S. iron and steel in the fabrication of rolling stock frame and car shell components and subcomponents. Finally, many of the policy ideas that I introduced in the Safer Trucks and Buses Act were incorporated in this final version. We must work to make sure we fix the important safety score program so that good decisions can be made on scores that actually represent truck and bus safety records. Investing in infrastructure is good for the economy and good for America. I am happy to vote for this long term bill and look forward to working with my colleagues on policy ideas that could be included in a comprehensive tax reform bill to ensure the Highway Trust Fund has a sustainable funding source. I appreciate Rep. Barlettas work as a conferee on this very important highway bill, said Rep. Bill Shuster (PA-9), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is a valuable member of our committee, and his background in road construction and as a mayor were of great value during the negotiations with the Senate. He made his priorities known, and he fought to have them included in the final bill. During negotiations with Senate conferees, Barletta led House efforts and was able to secure a number of victories for transportation safety, reduced regulation, and common sense. Defeating Truck Weight Increase Barletta was able to defeat efforts that would have increased the weight limit for trucks from 80,000 pounds to 91,000 pounds. Barletta said that local roads were not built to handle the increased weight, and the heavier trucks would pose a greater danger to their drivers and other motorists. Making Railway Cars Safer Barletta successfully amended the highway bill to require railway tanker cars carrying flammable liquids to be equipped with protections for their pressure safety valves. Newer tanker cars already have this type of feature, but the legislation requires older cars to be retrofitted. The requirement would make it more unlikely for tanker cars to burst into flames or explode in the event of an accident. Agricultural Vehicles Near Farms The highway bill also contains Barlettas priority that states may adopt their own safety standards for agricultural vehicles operating near farms without jeopardizing federal transportation funding. Barletta authored the Local Farm Vehicle Flexibility Act to allow states to permit farmers to operate vehicles that are technically uncovered as they travel from point to point on a farm or to a nearby processing facility, even if they traverse public roads in the process. The legislation clarifies language included in the 2012 Highway Transportation Bill, or the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Highway Safety Improvement Program Barletta led efforts to ensure that the highway bill fully funds the Highway Safety Improvement Program, which pays for safety measures such as guardrails, retroreflective signs, and road markings. The Senate bill had previously reduced the program sharply. Safer Trucks and Buses The highway bill includes much of Barlettas Safer Trucks and Buses Act, which seeks to reform safety scores for carriers by making the scores more reflective of the companys safety record. The legislation would temporarily halt the publication of flawed safety scores until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations (FMCSA) Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) scoring system is revamped. The language in no way eliminates law enforcement access to safety data, meaning that the worst offenders can still be targeted Reducing Paperwork for Ready Mix Concrete Drivers The bill reduces burdensome paperwork requirements for drivers of ready mix concrete trucks, without changing any on-duty rules. Currently, if a driver works for more than 12 hours in a shift, the driver must fill out a log book accounting for every 15 minutes of work. The maximum on-duty period allowed is 14 hours. The change simply makes the two requirements line up, eliminating unnecessary paperwork for the driver. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |