“Manufacturers asked Congress to begin the work toward developing long-term solutions for Highway Trust Fund solvency: Invest in our mass transit, rail, aviation, maritime, and water infrastructure and pass comprehensive permitting reform.”
— Erin Streeter Executive Vice President
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
nation’s 25 worst freight bottlenecks intersect with key logistics nodes and account for more than 2 million hours of annual delays. It also estimates that congestion at container and bulk ports costs manufacturers more than $13 billion each year in carrying costs and demurrage charges — charges that trickle through the entire supply chain.
Support Across the
decades. This new fee would spread more of the cost of maintaining the nation’s highways across all the vehicles using them instead of continuing to rely so heavily on gasoline and diesel purchases.
“The BUILD America 250 Act ensures that electric vehicle owners begin paying their fair share for the use of our roads,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) said. “The bill also makes smart and targeted reforms to our surface transportation programs, focuses on strengthening our core infrastructure system, drives innovation, bolsters safety, ensures states have the flexibility they need, and cuts red tape to get projects built faster.”
Keeping the Goods Moving For FEDA members, the transportation
debate directly affects freight costs, delivery windows, and project schedules. Equipment and supplies may travel from a manufacturer to a distributor’s warehouse, move between distribution centers, and continue to a restaurant, school, hospital, or other customer site. A delay at any point in that supply chain can extend delivery times, increase carrying costs, and complicate
24 FEDA News & Views
installation schedules. That’s why FEDA supports the transportation priorities outlined by NAM in its Building to Win campaign. The campaign calls on Congress to maintain federal infrastructure investment, strengthen transportation networks across multiple modes, address the Highway Trust Fund’s long-term finances, and reform the permitting process for major projects.
“Manufacturers asked Congress to begin the work toward developing long-term solutions for Highway Trust Fund solvency: Invest in our mass transit, rail, aviation, maritime, and water infrastructure and pass comprehensive permitting reform,” NAM Executive Vice President Erin Streeter said in a statement. “We commend the members of the committee for their work on this bill and urge Speaker [Mike] Johnson (R-LA) to bring it to the floor so manufacturers can realize the benefits of this legislation through growth and innovation that will support our nation’s broader economic prosperity.” The BUILD America 250 Act could help address those needs as manufacturers and distributors deal with persistent slowdowns at major logistics hubs. NAM’s analysis found that the
Transportation Sector Support for the BUILD America 250 Act extends well beyond manufacturers and into the broader business world. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, state and local chambers, and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) all see the bill as an important step toward keeping transportation projects funded and addressing some of the problems that slow freight movement.
The U.S. Chamber and its coalition support the bill in part because it would give states, transit agencies, local governments, and private companies more certainty when planning and financing major transportation projects. For distributors, that longer planning window can affect when road, bridge, and port projects begin, how quickly they’re completed, and how reliably freight can travel through the affected areas.
Some of that increased certainty will come from the bill’s changes to the transportation project review and permitting process. Lengthy reviews can delay construction and increase project costs, leaving aging infrastructure in place longer while businesses continue dealing with bottlenecks, detours, and capacity limits. The BUILD America 250 Act aims to ease that process by codifying the Department of Transportation’s ability to grant pre- award authority across rail programs. It also allows reimbursement for property acquisition for rail projects before the
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