Washington, D.C. – Today, by a margin of 412-8, the House passed bipartisan legislation to fund the nation’s public transportation and highway projects.  As part of the compromise between the House and Senate versions of the Transportation Equity Act (TEA-LU), language was eliminated from the House version which would have prevented competitive bidding processes for traffic data collection and analytical services.  Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens & Brooklyn), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – and a cosponsor of the legislation – led the fight to keep this language out of the highway bill.

In June, Weiner joined with other Representatives in a letter on this matter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee - Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) – and Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN). 

            Today, Rep. Weiner released the following statement:

“As technology advances, it is crucial that states and localities are given a full array of options to best serve their communities. 

“By opening these services to competitive bidding, we are essentially untying the hands of states and localities. 

“Now, companies will compete to provide the best services at the best price to taxpayers. 

“Drivers, passengers, and all taxpayers win.