Sen. Whitehouse’s Goal: Bipartisanship in Crafting New Surface Transportation Bill
5/22/2025
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, provided Legislative Conference attendees with insights into his committee’s priorities for a new surface transportation reauthorization.
“Committee Chair [Shelley Moore] Capito and I are eager to do a big bill with a significant public transit component,” Whitehouse said.
For Democratic members to negotiate on bipartisan surface transportation legislation, they are seeking assurances from the Trump Administration to:
- Unfreeze congressionally appropriated funds and allow transportation projects approved under the Biden Administration to proceed.
- Ensure future funding decisions are based on merit, rather than a partisan approach that funds “red” state projects before “blue” state projects.
- Expedite review and approval of the backlog of 3,200 transit projects, without “artificially fabricated” delays based on politics or “terminology like ‘climate’ or ‘equity’ or something that needs to be excised from the grant.”
Saying that he believes USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy is both sincere and diligent about working through the backlog, he told attendees, “We’re getting regular briefings every week … and I give him good marks for beginning to move through the process.”
If his committee members work together to forge a bipartisan compromise, Whitehouse believes this could be “an extremely productive Congress.”
“The pathway to bipartisan success means clearing the decks of all illegal [funding] freezes and understanding that faithful execution of the laws requires treating all sides fairly, having an independent and merit-based process, and making sure there is no partisan penalty or partisan priority applied,” Whitehouse stated.