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NATaT Transportation Reauthorization Priorities

NATaT December 2024 Annual Meeting

Jerry B. Crabtree, Heidi Fought (Ohio ED), Past President Neil Sheradin (Michigan Ed), and NATaT President Dave Sanko (PA ED)

NATaT Weekly Legislative Report

May 19, 2026

Congressional Outlook

The House and Senate are back in Washington this week. Lawmakers are hoping to address many legislative priorities before the week-long Memorial Day recess. TFG’s Legislative Update will take a week-long pause alongside Congress’s recess next week, returning on June 1.

After significant negotiations and several delays over the past several months, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee released bill text on Sunday evening for the long-anticipated surface transportation reauthorization legislation. The 1,006-page bipartisan legislation, the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250^th (BUILD America 250) Act (H.R. 8870), provides a five-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs maintained within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and would replace the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is set to expire on September 30, 2026. The bill, authored by T&I Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), authorizes approximately $580 billion in DOT funding from FY 2027 through FY 2031. The Committee will hold a markup at 10am ET on Thursday, May 21, T&I Committee members face a deadline of 1pm ET on May 20 to submit amendments to the legislation.

The House Financial Services Committee, led by Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), released their amended version of the 21 ^st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644). The House plans to move forward with a vote on the amended bill on Wednesday, though President Donald Trump has placed his support behind the Senate’s version over the House’s plan. The largest difference between the Senate-passed version of the bill and the House’s amended legislation is over large financial institutions’ investments in the single-family housing market. The Senate-passed bill calls on institutions to offload such units after seven years, while the House version removes this provision, citing that the action would cause the forced evictions of thousands of renters and reduce the overall supply of housing. The bills also differ as the House’s amended bill adds a renter complaint mechanism for tenants of large institutional investors and includes a four-year, rather than permanent, ban on central bank digital currencies, two areas where the House made concessions. The House will vote on the bill under “suspension of the rules,” which requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

Senate Republicans are advancing a $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through FY 2029, after Democrats refused to support Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding through the FY26 appropriations process, leading to a record 76-day partial government shutdown. On May 14, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that multiple core sections of the package violated the Byrd Rule, finding that key CBP funding sections inappropriately funded activities outside the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's (HSGAC) jurisdiction, in a defeat to Senate Republicans. MacDonough also ruled that the $1 billion in proposed funds requested by President Donald Trump for improvements and security for the presidential ballroom fell outside of the allowed jurisdiction of the bill. In response, Senate Republicans revised the bill text ahead of this week's markup, removing the language flagged by the parliamentarian and shifting approximately $9.6 billion in CBP funding to the Senate Judiciary Committee's portion of the bill on Tuesday, the HSGAC advanced the updated package on an 8-7 party-line vote, with the Senate Budget Committee set to vote Wednesday morning, sending it to the Senate floor for consideration. The earliest the House will be able to vote on the budget reconciliation bill would be Friday, following the Senate’s vote-a-rama on Wednesday and Thursday and a final vote on the floor.

The House returns on Wednesday and is scheduled to consider 16 bills under suspension of the rules; including, the Foster Youth Housing Opportunity Act (H.R. 7432), which expands states' permissible uses of federal funds under the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (Chafee program) to include supportive housing services; the 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644); the Veterans’ Transition to Trucking Act of 2025 (H.R. 2954), which authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to act as a state approving agency to approve multi-state apprenticeship programs for purposes of VA educational assistance benefits; the Taxpayer Due Process Enhancement Act (H.R. 6506), which suspends the period of time allowed for claiming a federal tax refund during collection due process proceedings, prohibits the IRS from applying tax overpayments to a tax liability that is disputed in such proceedings, and expands the Tax Court’s jurisdiction; the American Access to Banking Act (H.R. 4544), which requires federal financial regulators to review and streamline the application process for the formation of new depository institutions or credit unions; and Lulu’s Law (S. 1003), which requires the Federal Communications Commission to issue an order explicitly permitting the transmission of wireless emergency alerts to mobile phones in the event of a shark attack. The chamber will also consider four bills pursuant to a rule; including, the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act (H.R. 2616), which requires public elementary and middle schools, as a condition of receiving certain federal funds for elementary and secondary education, to obtain parental consent before changing a student's gender on school forms or changing a student's sex-based accommodations; the Veterans 2^nd Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 1041), which prohibits the VA from transmitting certain information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) utilized by licensed importers or dealers of firearms; the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026 (H.R. 6047), which requires the VA to increase the base rates for monthly benefits for veterans with severe service-related disabilities and survivor benefits for veterans who die from service-related injuries; and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act (H.R. 1329), which designates the site of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum building at a specified location on the National Mall. The House may also consider H. Con. Res. 86, a resolution directing the President to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran.

The House will hold 37 committee hearings and markups over the course of the week; including, an Appropriations Committee markup of the FY27 Energy-Water Development and Legislative Branch spending bills; an Appropriations Subcommittee markup of the FY27 Interior-Environment and Transportation-HUD spending bills; a Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection hearing on State and Local Cybersecurity: Escalating Threats, Federal Partnership, and the Resilience of America’s Communities; a Homeland Security Committee hearing on TSA Modernization: Industry Perspectives on Key Security and Travel Reforms 25 Years After 9/11; a Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax hearing on Your Paycheck, Returned: How the Working Families Tax Cuts Delivered for Americans; a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries hearing on The Federal Reclamation Program’s Next Century; an Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions hearing on Bad Medicine: Politics, Unions, and Antisemitism in Health Care; an Administration Subcommittee on Elections hearing on Examining Best Practices for Strengthening Election Security; a Small Business Committee hearing on Building the Future: How Small Home Builders are Closing America’s Housing Gap; and a Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Environment hearing on Research-Driven Resilience: Applying Science to Secure U.S. Water Systems from Cyber Threats.

The Senate returned on Monday evening and voted 46-43 to confirm a package of 49 executive nominations. Throughout the course of the week, the Senate will vote on additional nominations, including Sheria Clarke to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina and Evan Rikhye to be a Judge for the District Court of the U.S. Virgin Islands for a term of ten years. The Senate will also vote on a resolution directing the President to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran (S.J. Res. 185), as well as the budget reconciliation bill funding ICE and CBP. In addition, the chamber will hold 30 committee hearings and markups; including, a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation hearing to examine the evaluation of FAA safety measures from the DCA crash; a Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution hearing to examine enforcing Callais, focusing on implementing the Supreme Court's gerrymandering; a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy hearing to examine betting, focusing on protecting sports integrity in America; a Health, Education, Labor, and Pension hearing to examine meeting the individual needs of all students, focusing on the role of charter schools; and a Health, Education, Labor, and Pension hearing to examine gender transition procedures on minors.

On Tuesday, voters in Alabama, Idaho, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania head to the polls to vote in Republican and Democratic primaries for U.S. House and Senate races.