House Lawmakers Hail Transportation Stimulus — But Add Three Caveats

At a House transportation committee hearing today that marked the
one-year anniversary of the Obama administration's economic recovery
efforts, lawmakers offered praise for the stimulus law's impact on
local infrastructure investments even as they hit upon three key areas
of concern with its implementation.

The Port of Los Angeles was shut out of the stimulus' TIGER grant program. (Photo: USC)

Committee
chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) noted in his opening statement that 77
percent of the stimulus' formula-based road and transit spending, or
$26.4 billion, has been put out to bid by state officials.

"Although
the [stimulus] has counteracted the increase in construction
unemployment, Congress must continue to focus on job creation,"
Oberstar said. "Additional funding for highway and transit projects
will immediately create and sustain needed employment."

Yet U.S. DOT deputy secretary John Porcari found himself fielding some tough queries from several Democrats.

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA), who represents the Los Angeles area, echoed Connecticut lawmakers in requesting a briefing on the rationale for excluding her district from the $1.5 billion in competitive TIGER stimulus grants that were awarded last week.

"To
be very frank with you, sir, I find it hard to understand how you can
fund port communities ... and find it hard to fund the largest one in
the U.S.," Richardson said. The ports of L.A. and Long Beach collaborated
on a package that sought more than $365 million from TIGER (short for
Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery), but
ultimately fell short.

Even as she expressed frustration
with the lack of port grants, however, Richardson said she was pleased
with the TIGER program's California winners.

"There was
overwhelming demand" for TIGER funding from states and localities,
Porcari explained, "and we look forward to next rounds of them." He
added that the U.S. DOT plans to refine the reporting requirements for
stimulus funding recipients going forward, noting that the
administration's initial goal of maximizing transparency "turned into a
bit of an administrative burden."

The second caveat raised by Democrats dealt with a problem often lamented by civil-rights advocates: minority and disadvantaged contractors' lack of access to transportation stimulus funds.

Rep. Corinne Brown (D-FL) also lamented the inevitability
that "big guys get all of the dollars" in the federal contracting
arena. Likening stimulus funding to "my grandmother's sweet potato
pie," she quipped that "it's important that minorities and females get
a slice."

Rep.
Donna Edwards (D-MD) echoed Brown, calling for "a specific report"
evaluating how states are complying with the stimulus law's
proscription that 10 percent of transportation formula contracts be
given to minority or female firms. That 10-percent requirement, Edwards
said, really should be a floor and not a ceiling."

Porcari
made no attempt to sugarcoat the administration's progress on the
complaints of minority contractors. "It's clear that we have a lot of
work to do on this," he said. "It's clear that
some states are doing a better job than others."

Finally,
Edwards, Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL), and other lawmakers made a pointed plea
for the U.S. DOT to focus on "Buy American" rules for its high-speed
rail grants as well as other infrastructure projects.

And
Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), for her part, urged Porcari to remember
the unique position of low-income urban neighborhoods: "I need mass
transit -- I don't need high-speed rail in my area," she said. "We only
have bus transit."