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Earlier this month, I joined over 250 ASCE members to attend the 2019 ASCE Legislative Fly-in. The record-number of attendees arrived from all over the county to partake in a two-day program to learn about ASCE’s legislative priorities, receive training on how to discuss these issues with legislators, and to meet with Members of Congress or their staff on Capitol Hill. I was among ten attendees from Virginia and three from the National Capital Section.

I was only able to attend the fly-in on Wednesday which was the day of the main meetings. Training sessions were held at Renaissance Arlington Capital View hotel by staff from ASCE Government Relations on various topics to prepare us for the afternoon meetings with our respective Senators and House Representative. Staff informed us of three critical issues to discuss with our members of Congress: fixing the highway trust fund through raising the federal gas tax, fiscal year 2020 appropriations requests, and principles for infrastructure investment. In addition to the training sessions, Earl Blumenaeur (D-OR, Ways and Means Committee Member) and Rodney Davis (R-IL, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Member) stopped by to express their support to all of us and wished us luck in our meetings on Capitol Hill.

After receiving training and words of support, our delegation was bussed to Capitol Hill to advocate to our members of congress on the key issues. The National Capital Section (NCS) attendees met with staff members from the offices of Tim Kaine, Gerald Connolly, and Mark Warner. In the meetings, legislative staff members heard remarks from us on the most recent ASCE infrastructure report card, the importance of funding the highway trust fund, providing appropriations for key funds such as the Clean River State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), and stressing the importance of long-term, sustainable, and resilient solutions that leverage state, local and private investment. Staff members were generally in agreement with the points we made and confirmed their office’s positive stance on such issues. However, all expressed the difficulty in passing measures which may increase the tax burden on their constituents as well as receiving agreement from both political parties. Despite not getting any specific commitments from staff at the time, their time with us increased the awareness of the need to increase infrastructure spending. I along with the other attendees will plan to follow up with their members of congress in the coming weeks.