CONGRESSWOMAN EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON LEADS EFFORT TO SECURE $74.8 MILLION IN TRANSPORTATION FUNDING FOR TEXAS

Washington, DC (Friday, May 28, 2010) The House passed legislation today (H.R. 4213) that ends a dispute over current year federal highway funding to states. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson led the effort of her colleagues on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee to reverse an inequitable distribution of these funds.

H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, includes a provision to redistribute funding from two highway accounts in an equitable way using established transportation allocation formulas – this will result in Texas receiving an additional $74.8 million in transportation funding this year.

“I am extremely pleased with passage of today’s fix in highway funding,” said Congresswoman Johnson. “The House has recognized the inequity included by the Senate in previous legislation. I hope that the Senate will honor the pledge made by their Majority Leader and pass this legislation as soon as possible.”

Passage of highway provisions in the HIRE Act earlier this year included a distribution of highway funds that would have resulted in four states receiving 58 percent of the funding from two highway accounts. Congresswoman Johnson voted against the HIRE Act and has since led a coalition of House Members in urging the House Leadership to remedy this funding inequity.

In his prepared statement supporting passage of the highway funding fix, Chairman Oberstar thanked Congresswoman Johnson for her “instrumental work in spearheading efforts to marshal support for enactment of the highway formula provisions included in H.R. 4213.”

In response to the House’s action today, Texas Transportation Commissioner Dierdre Delisi said, "I'd like to thank the Congresswoman for relentlessly protecting Texas' transportation interests in this legislation.  We constantly struggle to get our fair share returned from Washington because basic funding fairness can easily get lost if you're not vigilant at all times."

    
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U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Turtle Creek, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla.