Central Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis wants to give more authority to state and local governments when it comes to improving the country's transportation infrastructure. Speaking before boarding a Connect Transit bus in Normal, Davis said his house bill empowers localities.
"If I'm successful in this bill, it will create more of a local stakeholder committee to make decisions on awards to groups like Connect Transit. It allows people who are more familiar with out local mass transit needs to have a say on who gets awarded the competitive funds versus who doesn't," Davis said.
Davis is conducting a two-day tour of transit operations in his expansive 13th district. Last December, President Obama signed the FAST (Fixing America's Surface Transportation) Act, a five-year funding tool for transit agencies. Davis said the previous long-term funding bill cleared the house more than a decade ago. That won't happen again, he promised.
"Long-term funding bills like the FAST Act will be part of our normal legislative process, rather than when I got to Washington a short three-and-a-half years ago, they became caught up in political polarization," Davis concluded.