By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
With Republicans capturing the majority in the United States House, northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves is in line to become the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Graves, now the ranking Republican on the committee, says the top task of the committee in the upcoming Congress is overseeing how the Biden administration handles the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Congress approved.
“We will be responsible for doling out a lot of the money in the infrastructure bill,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “We’ll be responsible for oversight to make sure that the administration is following the letter of the law and making sure that the administration is not trying to change the law through rule-making authority.”
Graves says the Transportation Committee is mostly bipartisan, with the exception of how the two parties split on the massive infrastructure bill. Republicans had pushed for a smaller, more targeted infrastructure measure.
Graves says Republicans will keep an eye on how the Biden administration spends the money.
“Because we know that many of the bureaucrats in the administration are trying to change the letter of the law when it comes to pushing that money out,” according to Graves. “There’s also the potential for a lot of waste and fraud. When you’re putting $1.2 trillion out and you’re pushing it out as fast as you possibly can, there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity for waste. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Graves says he wants to grant states more flexibility in how to spend the funds.
“The administration is trying to push people into mass transit,” Graves says. “Well, that just doesn’t work in places like rural Missouri and places like rural America. It simply doesn’t work. You need more capacity on the roads in more traditional ways. And so, the administration is trying to change that through rule making and so we’re going to be pushing back on that to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives during the midterm elections. It appears their majority will be slim, similar to the small majority Democrats enjoy in the current session of Congress.
Graves says that while his top priority as chair will be oversight, the committee will also be handling FAA reauthorization, renewal of the Pipeline Safety Bill as well as the Water Resources Bill.