Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, the full Senate agreed to include Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to reform transportation funding in a package of amendments on the Highway Trust Fund. The “Transportation Empowerment Act” would allow states to keep the vast majority of revenue each raises through the gas tax, making it easier and more effective for communities to develop the transportation system they want and need.

“Nearly half the states are already taking steps to become more fiscally independent in how they fund transportation projects,” said Sen. Lee. “This legislation would make that process easier and empower all 50 states to be more responsive to the needs of their citizens.  The states already own and maintain the roads.  There is no good reason why they should have to send their citizen’s infrastructure money to Washington first.”

The Transportation Empowerment Act phases down the federal gas tax over five years from 18.4 cents per gallon to 3.7 cents and transfers highway authority from the federal government to the states.

“Under this new system, Americans would no longer have to send significant gas-tax revenue to Washington, where politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists take their cut before sending it back with strings attached,” Lee added.  “Instead, states and cities could plan, finance, and build smarter and more affordable projects.”

Lee’s plan would ignite a new era of infrastructure innovation and diversity. Some communities could choose to build more roads, while others might prefer to repair old ones. Some might build highways, others light-rail. And all would be free to experiment with innovative green technologies, and new ways to finance their projects, like congestion pricing and smart tolls. For the country as a whole, this plan would mean a better infrastructure system, new jobs and opportunities, diverse localism, and innovative environmental protection.

“Americans know we need more roads, bridges, lanes, and mass-transit systems. My plan will not only allow local communities to develop infrastructure projects according to their own needs and values, but will allow their dollars to go further by cutting out the political middle-men in Washington. Properly planned and located, these projects would help create new jobs, new communities, more affordable homes, shorter commuting times, and greater opportunity for businesses and families,” said Lee.

Lee’s stand-alone bill (S.1702) has been cosponsored by Senators Rubio, Cruz, Roberts, and Johnson, while a House companion (HR3486) introduced by Rep. Tom Graves has 49 cosponsors.

WASHINGTON - In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled today that the federal government cannot force closely-held businesses to violate sincerely held religious beliefs in order to comply with the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act.  Senator Lee released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling to protect religious liberty:

"Today's decision in Burwell v Hobby Lobby marks an important victory for religious liberty. Americans do not shed their religious freedoms merely by going into business.  The Court's ruling upholds and strengthens the rights of individuals and the rule of law, while protecting the Constitution."

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Mike Lee announced his plans to offer an amendment that would block funding for a regulation that allows the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to dictate local zoning requirements in any community across the country. 

“Even for our highly centralized federal government, this rule represents an extreme step in consolidating government decisions over distinctly local matters within the hands of distant, unaccountable bureaucrats,” said Lee. “Local authorities are far more attuned to the unique conditions and needs of their communities, and they have a personal stake in their success. In every state across the country, there is no doubt that a mayor and city council officials will be more personally invested and more effective in improving the lives of the people in their community than a federal official located in Washington, D.C.”

Senator Lee plans to offer his amendment to the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act should it be brought to the floor this week.

If funded, the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule would empower federal officials to assert the authority to force any community that receives a Community Development Block Grant to comply with zoning plans written in Washington.  This rule effectively allows HUD to carve up the country, block by block, according to its own priorities and preferences.

Community Development Block Grants are allocations of federal tax dollars, issued to local governments by HUD, to address a variety of community development needs. One of the primary uses of these resources is to provide affordable public housing for individuals and families in need. Sadly, the inevitable consequence of federal management over how local officials spend this money will only make it harder for communities to provide adequate low-cost housing for their neighbors in need.

To protect the ability of local officials to serve low-income communities, Senator Lee’s amendment would prevent this egregious power grab by the federal government and would keep housing decisions closest to the people who are affected by them.

Rep. Paul Gosar is the original sponsor of a similar amendment in the House, which was successfully added to H.R. 4745, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015.

Senator Mike Lee, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), attended a meeting of SASC members this morning to receive a classified briefing from senior Pentagon officials on the prisoner exchange of five high-level Taliban leaders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.  
 
The transfer of these detainees from Guantanamo Bay violated federal law requiring the Department of Defense to notify Congress 30 days prior to the transfer of any detainees from that facility.  Following the briefing, Senator Lee remained concerned that the administration did not fully recognize the security implications of transferring these detainees and allowing them to eventually return to Afghanistan.
 
Said Senator Lee, "These five detainees were important leaders of the former Taliban government and had previously been deemed too dangerous to transfer, as recently as 2010.  We still have serious questions about why suddenly they were no longer dangerous, and whether their return to Afghanistan could result in undermining over a decade of American work in that country that cost the lives of thousands of our service members."
 
Senator Lee will continue to push for answers to these questions and ensure that these decisions are being made more responsibly and with greater oversight.