Republican Chair Alters Tone on Transit Money in Highway Bill

A key House Republican is softening his stance on transit funding while drafting a surface transportation reauthorization bill he expects to unveil within weeks.

“This is going to be a traditional surface transportation bill,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said at a Wednesday event in Washington hosted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “What I mean by that is we’re pouring concrete, laying asphalt, building bridges.”

But he added that could include supporting transit at a “robust” level—echoing the language of a December letter to congressional leaders from a coalition led by ...