Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advances bipartisan package of water, aviation, GSA and rail measures

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure favorably reported a broad set of bipartisan bills in a markup that covered water‑program reauthorizations, multiple aviation safety and modernization measures, rail safety reporting, and several General Services Administration (GSA) actions.

Representative Stauber, offering HR 64 22, the American Water Stewardship Act, described the measure as “a comprehensive package that brings together six stand‑alone bills to reauthorize and strengthen key EPA water quality and ecosystem restoration programs,” highlighting reauthorizations of the National Estuary Program and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Stauber said the package includes oversight provisions and a GAO reporting requirement to evaluate program performance.

On aviation, the committee approved several bills. Representative Knott described HR 62 67, the Aviation Supply Chain Safety and Security Digitization Act, as a response to recent incidents of forged paperwork and said it would direct the Government Accountability Office to study barriers to digitizing FAA records and to recommend steps toward voluntary digital ARCs (authorized release certificates). “A few forged signatures are all that it takes for nefarious actors to inject hundreds, if not thousands, of dangerous, fraudulent parts into planes,” Knott said during debate.

Representative Titus led adoption of…