At what was retiring Rep. Peter DeFazio's final hearing as chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure last week, his potential Republican replacement laid out his priorities should the GOP win control of the House.
"My focus is going to be on oversight of the IIJA as well as the transportation-related provisions in the ARP and the IRA to ensure that taxpayer funding is spent wisely and according to the letter of the law or the way the law was passed," said ranking Republican member Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, referring to the trio of high-profile bills passed in the last two years: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
"Aside from focusing on the damage these bills did to our economy, another concern of mine is how the administration is implementing laws that have passed, including the IIJA," Graves said. "The administration is not following the letter of the law and instead they're using rules and guidance materials to impose partisan policies throughout the process."
About a month away, midterm elections will bring a new chair — and possibly new party control — to the influential T&I committee, which has jurisdiction over all modes of transportation, including aviation, highways and bridges, transit, rail and the Coast Guard. The 68-member panel will see a new chair regardless of which party controls the House, as DeFazio, considered a top transportation infrastructure advocate, steps down after 36 years in Congress.
The next chair's chief task will be overseeing implementation of the $1.2 trillion IIJA as the Department of Transportation doles out the money to states and local governments, as well as next year's reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration.
At the Sept. 29 committee hearing, Democrats heaped accolades on DeFazio, who exits in January. Rep. Stephen Lynch said DeFazio "elevated the cause of the priority of infrastructure, transportation and otherwise, across this country during your 36 years," and Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., chimed in that he "came to this committee for the subject matter. I stayed for the chairman."
DeFazio's priorities as chair were illustrated in the hearing's witness list, which included representatives from two unions, the head of an Oregon transit agency and the president of Amtrak, said Jeff Davis, senior fellow at Eno Center for Transportation.
"Republicans, if they take the House, are going to be noticeably less friendly to the transportation unions and to Amtrak and the mass transit people," Davis said.
Graves, a former state lawmaker, has served four years as ranking committee member and will have two more years to serve as the chair.
Graves outlined his agenda as future chair in a Sept. 23
Among their concerns is the administration's
If Democrats retain control of the House, the next chair is likely to be either Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. or Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington.
Norton, who is next in line in terms of seniority on the committee, has told CQ that her focus would be on the IIJA's implementation and that her top legislative priority would be climate change.
Norton is currently chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, and has also said stabilizing the anemic Highway Trust Fund is a priority. 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.
Larsen, currently the fourth Democrat on the panel, will be second after DeFazio and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, retire in January.
Currently the chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, Larsen has worked with DeFazio on investigations into Boeing, but the Washington Democratic will have to walk a fine line with the airline manufacturer, noted Eno's Davis.
"It's going to be a big change in the way the committee deals with Boeing, because it's the biggest employer in Larsen's area, so he obviously can't take as skeptical a line against Boeing as DeFazio did or Norton could," Davis said.
DeFazio has been particularly active on the aviation front, and the committee will have a hand in the reauthorization of the FAA bill next year.
Larsen has said his top priorities include transportation safety, climate change, the rollout of the IIJA and modernizing the transportation system.
At last week's committee hearing, Larsen said he's worried the tight labor force could slow the IIJA rollout. "We need to address it and really be on top of it as we move forward over the next several years to implement IIJA," he said.
Eno's Davis noted that DeFazio retires on a slightly sour note as he saw Congress finally pass the kind of major infrastructure he'd spent decades advocating for but was unable to contribute to it, as the Senate controlled the bill-writing process.
"So it was bittersweet for Mr. DeFazio," Davis said.
Graves raised the point at last week's hearing, saying "the chair and I are both critical of the fact that … the House was completely shut out of the process," but DeFazio, in his own comments, said he proud of the work the House has accomplished in the last two years.
"It's 36 years I've been here working these issues, and, you know, the forces of inertia and not getting things done in Washington are quite strong," he said. "And I'm proud of the work of this committee and this Congress as a whole for these last two years to break through that inertia and deliver for the American people."
