The Dallas Weekly published the following op ed by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson in which she discusses the passage of the Transportation Bill and Student Loan Relief:
"On Friday, June 29th, 2012, Congress worked against the clock in an increasingly rare form of bipartisanship and passed a $105 billion transportation bill known as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP -21). The House of Representatives and the Senate briefly came together to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling and to reauthorize infrastructure policy, which will create and save millions of jobs. As the Senior Texan on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and conferee to the bill, my top priority was to shape the legislation in order to provide benefits for Texas.
This Act directly benefits Texas for a number of reasons. Over 400,000 Texas students will receive relief from impending student loan interest rates. In Texas and all across the country, students and recent college graduates are now facing the highest unemployment rate of any other group. Without action, the loan rates for 7.4 million college students would have doubled, adding $6.3 billion to students’ debt burden in one year alone. This bill not only provides relief for Texas students, but allows for a plan to make our highways and roadways safer.
In terms of transportation dollars, Texas will receive more than $3 billion annually in highway formula funds. In addition to highway spending, funding for mass transit is critical for the 30th district and the entire state. Transit funding is essential as we work to develop solutions to alleviate congestion and alternative modes of transportation to accommodate such a growing population.
Texas has also been very successful in utilizing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) funding, and will continue to benefit under this bill, which increases funding for the TIFIA program to $750 million for FY 2013 and to $1 billion for FY 2014. The bill also increases the maximum share of project costs that can be funded through the TIFIA program from 33 percent to 49 percent.
Most importantly, transportation reauthorization will provide stimulus to local economies, and get those in the construction and manufacturing industries back to work. Over 2 million jobs will be created or saved across the Nation. The bill will also make key reforms in consolidating transportation programs, cut red tape, and leverage federal resources to expand public-private partnerships in transportation. The Texas Department of Transportation, local transit agencies, and contractors will now receive much-needed certainty as they plan transportation projects.
I recognize that the long-term viability of our transportation system requires a continued commitment to quality research and the development of new transportation technologies and materials that will make our transportation infrastructure – and the vehicles traveling on that infrastructure – safer, stronger, and more sustainable.
It is my hope that moving forward we can look at this legislation as a model of what can be accomplished by seeking bipartisan, bicameral common ground."
