2025 Transportation Coalition Fly-In

Washington, D.C.

AGC Nebraska Executive Director, Katie Wilson, along with Chapter President, Rob Wemhoff, and Chapter President-elect, Julie Budnick, attended the 2025 Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In in our Nation’s capital May 6th – 8th. The TCC is a partnership of 34 national associations and labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of individuals with a direct market interest in federal transportation programs.  AGC of America and ARTBA co-chair the TCC. 
Having attended the TCC Fly-in a few years ago, Katie found the support of the industry to be refreshing. Both the House and the Senate goals are to build “Big Beautiful Roads and Bridges”.
The main purpose of the trip was to advocate for the Highway Trust Fund and show support for an improved Surface Transportation Program, which expires on September 30, 2026. 

• On Tuesday, AGC of America provided a legislative briefing to members who attended.  Here are several highlights: 
  • Murphie Barrett, the senior policy advisor for the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, met with our group to update us on the Committee's plans for reauthorization.
  • The AGC provided insights on President Trump’s Executive Orders. We learned that when an Executive Order is signed by the President, it effectively directs the agency to begin revising the relevant rules or regulations.
  • While Trump aims to reduce regulations, the decrease in staff and resources makes it challenging to implement these changes effectively.
  • The goal is that for every new regulation introduced, ten existing regulations should be eliminated. 
• On Tuesday evening, we joined other AGC chapter executives and members for dinner.  It was great to see our ‘neighbors’ and friends from South Dakota!! 
• On Wednesday morning, we attended the Nebraska breakfast which was held in the basement of the Dirksen Senate office building.  Each of our Federal delegation reported on what they were currently working on. Despite the “Nebraska Breakfast” not having any food, only coffee, it was nice to hear and see them all. 
• We also met with Senator Rickets and his staff.  Senator Ricketts is a member of the Environmental and Public Works Committee which is responsible for the Surface Transportation Program reauthorization.  We discussed the various problems with the current law and what we’d like to see in the 2026 bill. 
• The Transportation Construction Coalition held their session Wednesday afternoon where a number of high-ranking House and Senate representatives spoke on their goals of their respective committees: 
  • Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, discussed the bipartisan reauthorization package with the goal of having the House pass it by October. He aims to achieve the following: 
    • Create a more traditional package with fewer restrictions, specifically focusing on funding for roads and bridges (the Highway Trust Fund should primarily support roads and bridges rather than all the other programs intended to be funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act).
    • Provide states with flexibility in how they allocate the funds.
    • Include Buy America provisions in the bill, aligning with President Trump's goal of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.
    • Introduce new funding for the Highway Trust Fund through sources such as electric vehicle fees, registration fees, or other sustainable funding mechanisms. 
  • Our final speaker was Senator Shelley Capito (R-WV), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the Surface Transportation Program law. It was encouraging to see that the Senate shares the same objectives as the House.  The Senator’s goals are: 
    • There is a Senate portal where Senators are being asked to provide their feedback on what is working well and what they dislike about the current Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
    • Providing formula funding to the states and allowing them to decide how to allocate those funds.  For example, Senator Capito mentioned that if a state like California wants to invest in bike paths, it should be able to use their federal funds for that purpose.  States have various needs, so they should have the autonomy to spend their funds accordingly.
    • The desire to fund the program using the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), primarily through user fees.  The current fund doesn’t meet the current programs!
    • Streamlining the environmental permitting process to make it more efficient.
    • The goal of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee is to have these initiatives in place by the end of 2025. 
• On Thursday morning, we met with Senator Fischer’s Legislative Assistant and Appropriations Coordinator, Jacob McMeekin.  We reminded him of the EPW’s portal for Senators to provide feedback on the highway reauthorization and expressed our concerns with the current program and what we’d like to see in the next program.  We also updated them on the issues with Project Delivery back in Nebraska.  The Senator wasn’t able to make our meeting, however, we were on the same plane flying home, so we had some quality time with her in the airport.
  

​We will continue to monitor the progress of the House and Senate as they work to draft the next Surface Transportation bill.