The BUILD America 250 Act has advanced through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with major pro-trucker priorities intact.
During a markup hearing that began on Thursday, March 21 and concluded in the early-morning hours on Friday, March 22, the T&I Committee voted 62-2 in favor of the bipartisan measure. The $580 billion highway bill package now advances to the full House.
Although dozens of amendments were introduced at the markup hearing, the package moves to the next stage of the legislative process, chock full of provisions that the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association listed as highway bill priorities during House testimony in 2025.
Those OOIDA priorities that made their way into the highway bill include truck parking funding, restroom access for truck drivers, prohibition of predatory lease-purchase agreements, strengthened entry-level driver training standards and broker standards, improvements to the DataQ system, ELD certification process and the National Consumer Complaint Database; crackdowns on freight fraud and chameleon carriers; and implementation of a system that requires electric vehicles to contribute to the Highway Trust Fund.
Perhaps just as important are the provisions that aren’t included. During OOIDA’s testimony in March 2025, Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh urged lawmakers to oppose increases to minimum liability insurance, mandates for speed limiters, side underride guards, hair testing, and funding for electric vehicles and charging stations.
These are the reasons OOIDA is calling the current version of the BUILD America 250 Act “the most pro-trucker highway bill in recent memory.”
“OOIDA commends the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for passing the BUILD America 250 Act …” President Todd Spencer said. “OOIDA’s advocacy played a critical role in securing several priorities in this bipartisan effort, including a $750 million investment in truck parking, guaranteed restroom access at shipping facilities and a ban on predatory leasing schemes. Truck drivers are happy to see lawmakers recognize their essential role in our economy, and we encourage the bill’s swift passage on the floor and in the Senate.”
That’s not to say OOIDA believes the bill is perfect.
The highway bill includes provisions that would allow autonomous vehicle manufacturers to self-certify, as well as the Beyond Compliance program and a pilot program to increase truck weight limits to 91,000 pounds.
OOIDA opposed the AV provision, pointing out to lawmakers that the use of self-certification for ELD manufacturers and CDL training schools has been problematic. Leaving driverless trucks unchecked would be “the most disastrous yet,” OOIDA said.
The idea behind the Beyond Compliance program is to reward motor carriers that go above and beyond the requirements to ensure safe operation. Essentially, that means boosting safety scores for carriers that add a bunch of “safety gadgets” to the truck. Critics of a Beyond Compliance program view it as being biased toward large fleets and as a pay-to-play system.
The current federal weight limit is 80,000 pounds. OOIDA says increasing size and weight is all cost and no benefit for truckers. The Coalition Against Bigger Trucks released a 2025 study indicating that raising the weight limit to 91,000 pounds would put as many as 82,457 bridges at risk and cost up to $98.6 billion.
The original version of the BUILD America 250 Act, released earlier this week, did not include any provisions to increase truck weight limits.
However, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., proposed an amendment that would create a pilot program to allow six-axle vehicles to weigh up to 91,000 pounds.
“It has been 44 years since Congress updated its gross vehicle weight limits,” Johnson said. “Forty-four years, a lot has happened since 1982, and I think it’s high time for Congress to revisit that standard. The amendment before you is a pretty simple one. It just allows those gross vehicle weights to be increased to 91,000 pounds – a modest increase – if you add a sixth axle. That sixth axle is the straw that stirs the drink and makes sure that we do this in a cost-effective and safe way.”
However, several members of Congress pushed back against the amendment.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., noted that truck drivers and members of law enforcement say that an increase in weight limits would be bad for safety and infrastructure.
“I rise in opposition of the amendment because of serious safety concerns that have been shown not only from studies but from firsthand and real-world experiences of law enforcement and truck drivers,” Johnson said. “Who knows better than these two groups? Almost certainly nobody casting a vote today.”
Despite opposition from Johnson and others, the amendment passed through the committee.
What’s next?
Although truckers don’t support the increase in truck weights, the overall highway bill package still represents several victories for truckers.
For instance, truck parking funding, restroom access and protection from predatory lease-purchase programs are provisions OOIDA has spent years telling lawmakers are must-haves. And all three of those are included in the highway bill package that will go to the full House for a vote.
If the House passes the bill, it will then go to the Senate. Unless the deadline is extended, Congress has until Sept. 30 to pass the next highway bill.
OOIDA encourages truck drivers to reach out to their lawmakers in support of the BUILD America 250 Act. LL
Credit: Source link
