Senator Bob Corker released the following statement after the Trump administration unveiled its infrastructure proposal.
“Unlike the federal government, for years, the state of Tennessee has made the tough decisions necessary to run a debt free road program while maintaining its infrastructure in a responsible way,.
While I have consistently offered solutions to the fiscal challenges facing our federal highway program, I am open to alternative proposals and applaud the administration for envisioning a new way to leverage many of our existing resources to spur further state infrastructure investment.”
The Corker staff said he "has long called for a solution to the funding challenges facing our federal highway program. In 2014, he supported legislation to gradually reduce the gas user fee and transfer authority of the federal highway and transit programs to states. In 2015, he proposed a revenue neutral proposal that would have provided stable funding for the Highway Trust Fund."
Senator David Perdue said, “When he was elected, President Trump said job one was growing the economy. In 2017, he focused on reducing regulations, unleashing our energy potential, and cutting taxes. In 2018, President Trump wants to move to immigration, trade, and infrastructure. He is now beginning to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. We need a smart approach to prioritize and leverage significant economic development projects like they do in the real world. We need to streamline federal, state, and local cooperation and remove regulatory roadblocks so we can get the greatest return on investment for taxpayers.
"In Georgia, we saw this approach in action when the I-85 bridge collapsed and was repaired a month ahead of schedule. We need to replicate that efficiency on a larger scale so we can increase productivity and ultimately update our nation’s infrastructure network to support additional growth.”