Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the influential chair of the House Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure and a supporter of the municipal bond market, will retire when his term ends in January 2023.
DeFazio said he would spend his remaining 13 months in office trying to ensure passage of the Build Back Better Act.
By seniority, the next in line for the seat is Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, who announced Wednesday she would seek the chairmanship next year. She is the next most senior Democrat on the committee and now heads the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. As a delegate, she is allowed to introduce legislation and vote in committees but is not allowed to vote on bills on the House floor. Her spokesperson, Sharon Eliza Nichols, said in a tweet Wednesday that there is a precedent for a delegate chairing a committee from the 6th Congress, when Northwest Territory Delegate William Henry Harrison served as chair of the Committee on Public Lands.
Norton was already in office in the 1990s when Washington faced significant fiscal distress and her biography credits her with "achieving a historic package that for the first time restructured the financial relationship between Congress and the District, by transferring $5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and billions more in state costs to the federal government."
Aviation Subcommittee Chair Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash. may also throw his hat in the ring, according to reports.
Considered a leader for national infrastructure issues, transit, rail and climate change, DeFazio was also an advocate for the muni market, said Emily Brock, federal liaison for the Government Finance Officers Association.
“It’s definitely a loss,” Brock said. “He’s a muni supporter who’s taking leave at a very pivotal time for infrastructure,” she said.
Brock added that there remains sufficient time to implement the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act before DeFazio leaves.
As for his successor, Brock said “we’d certainly like for the next person to have local government experience.”
The Airports Council International – North America, which represents commercial airports, praised DeFazio for his creation of the Passenger Facility Charge, which backs the passenger facility charge bonds, a widely used tool to finance airport infrastructure projects like terminals.
“His work in Congress — including his creation of the Passenger Facility Charge to fund airport infrastructure projects and passage of the recent ‘once-in-a-generation’ bipartisan infrastructure bill — will have a lasting impact on our aviation infrastructure, the health of our economy, and the mobility of all Americans for years to come,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin Burke in a statement.
The American Public Transportation Association said DeFazio has been an “indefatigable advocate for access to affordable and reliable public transportation for all.”
DeFazio was first elected to Congress in 1986.
