ASA Calls Upon House Leadership to Pass the Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act

ASA, along with the Transportation Construction Coalition, urged House Leadership to pass the Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act (S. 3011/H.R. 5735). This legislation would build on the recently passed infrastructure bill by giving state and local governments the flexibility to use ARPA funds to immediately invest in infrastructure. This legislation would ensure that state and local governments, who collectively own nearly 100 percent of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, can meet their responsibilities to the nation as intergovernmental partners. These responsibilities include significant public infrastructure leadership, including owning, operating and maintaining public roads, bridges and our nation’s public transit systems, and providing government services such as public health, justice, human services, and safety. Passage of this legislation, a bipartisan compromise that unanimously passed the U.S. Senate, would provide much-needed flexibility in state and local ARPA funds and would neither mandate funds be used in any particular way nor increase overall federal appropriations. This bill would also cap infrastructure investments to ensure funds are not diverted from the ongoing public health emergency.