INVEST Act

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Mixed Responses to INVEST in America Act

House Democrats crafted it, House Republicans ridicule it, rail labor loves it, APTA likes it, AAR dismisses it, and ASLRRA notes it’s merely a first step in a tedious process: It’s H.R. 3684, the INVEST (Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation) in America Act, passed by the full House in a largely partisan vote. It has a snowball’s chance in Seattle’s June heat wave of going anywhere. Wasted time, wasted effort? Probably, but that’s Washington.

Graves’ Concern: INVEST is a non-STARTER

Let the partisan battle of acronyms begin: In response to H.R. 2, the surface transportation bill named the INVEST (Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation) in America Act, introduced by Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 3 and marked up and released late on June 18, T&I Committee Republicans, led by Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-Mo.), early on June 19 introduced a competing bill: the STARTER (Surface Transportation Advanced through Reform, Technology, & Efficient Review) Act.