Louisiana understands infrastructure. Our ports in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the chemical corridor along the Mississippi, our intercoastal, interstates and rail networks keep American agriculture, energy, and manufacturing moving throughout the globe.
Congress is now considering the BUILD America 250 Act, a sweeping surface transportation reauthorization bill that will shape infrastructure policy for years to come. Unfortunately, for us the bill points us in the wrong direction.
At its core, the bill departs from the principles that should be the foundation of federal transportation policy: fiscal discipline, limited government, and a focus on its mission of transportation infrastructure. Instead, the bill leans to an all-to-familiar Washington pattern: higher spending, more bureaucracy and programs, and greater federal control layered onto an already complicated/complex system.
At roughly $580 billion over five years, this is more than a highway bill. It expands federal involvement across nearly every transportation mode while doing little to fix federal inefficiencies and poor incentives that have defined national transportation policy for decades
With the national debt exceeding $40 trillion and interest costs rising, restraint should be the starting point. Instead, this bill increases the spending baseline and adds new programs, mandates, and requirements.
Transportation bills have become one of the most reliable drivers of federal growth and overreach. Each one is described and sold/framed as modernization or reform. In practice, each adds complexity, cost and regulation while reducing accountability and control. This bill follows the same path.
The proposed electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid fee provision is a clear example. There’s a reasonable case for ensuring all drivers contribute to the Highway Trust Fund, but this approach does not simplify funding. It shifts more power and responsibility to Washington, D.C. State motor vehicle agencies would be required to act on behalf of the federal government by modifying registration systems, applying federal reporting standards, and transmitting revenues under new oversight requirements. That’s not federalism or streamlining. It is a new layer of administration imposed on states.
Rather than correcting course, the bill expands federal reach into areas that have traditionally been handled at the state and local level. Instead of focusing purely on roads, bridges and freight corridors, it adds discretionary programs and policy initiatives – whether climate provisions or wildlife crossings – that dilute focus and delay project delivery. For Louisiana, that has real consequences. Our economy depends on moving goods quickly and at low cost. Additional federal requirements mean delays, higher costs and less flexibility for the industries that drive our state.
The problem is especially clear in freight rail policy. Louisiana depends on one of the most efficient freight rail systems in the world that is built and maintained by private investment, innovation and operational flexibility.
But the BUILD America 250 Act moves in the opposite direction, incorporating major elements of the Railway Safety Act that add new federal mandates to an industry that already leads globally in safety and efficiency. Those costs will not stay contained. They will be passed along through higher rates, tighter margins and reduced competitiveness for Louisiana producers.
Perhaps most strikingly, the bill also avoids the central issue facing transportation policy: the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. Instead of addressing the mismatch between spending and revenue, it continues the pattern of higher authorizations paired with future transfers and temporary fixes/patches. Louisiana has seen where that leads: programs expand, costs grow, and accountability fades and weakens.
There’s a better path possible. A serious and strong transportation bill would focus on core infrastructure, speed up and streamline permitting, and give states more control over project design, delivery and management. It would also cut and reduce unnecessary federal mandates and requirements, and treat fiscal discipline as a priority, not an afterthought.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise understand what drives Louisiana’s economy: efficient, safe and strong freight movement, reliable infrastructure, and a regulatory environment that supports growth, investment and opportunity. That should be the standard for this legislation. Congress still has time to adjust course and produce a transportation bill that reflects restraint, clarity and competitiveness. Louisiana and the country should expect nothing less.
