House T&I committee to talk supply chain at first hearing

As the 118th Congress begins, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is wasting little time before it looks at ways to improve the nation’s supply chain.

The T&I Committee has scheduled an organizational meeting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Following the organizational meeting, the committee plans to hold a hearing titled, “The State Transportation Infrastructure and Supply Chain Challenges.”

The witnesses at the hearing:

• Chris Spear, American Trucking Associations president.
• Ian Jefferies, Association of American Railroads president.
• Jeff Firth, Associated General Contractors of America.
• Roger Guenther, Port Houston executive director.
• Greg Regan, Transportation Trades Department president.

The hearing marks Rep. Sam Graves’ first as chairman of the T&I committee.

Graves, who has served as the committee’s ranking member the past four years, succeeds Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

“When I first came to Congress, I fought hard to serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,” Graves said in a news release. “It’s now one of the greatest honors of my life to be chosen by my colleagues to chair what I believe is one of the most important and effective committees in Congress. America cannot prosper without a safe and efficient transportation network that meets the economic needs of our diverse states and communities.”

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., will become the T&I Committee’s ranking member.

“I am honored by the confidence my Democratic colleagues have placed in me and my approach to the next ranking member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee,” Larsen said in a news release. “In the 118th Congress, Democrats will protect and build upon the success of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the transportation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act to create more jobs, keep the economy moving and build a cleaner, greener, safer and more accessible transportation system.”

Live video of the hearing will be streamed here. LL