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The Senate on Feb. 13 confirmed Ray Martinez to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as the Trump administration promotes a comprehensive infrastructure funding proposal.

The country’s top transportation officer assured reporters the president had not dismissed a thorny funding proposal ahead of a legislative collaboration with Congress on infrastructure during the second day of the Trump administration’s latest iteration of “Infrastructure Week.”

Reps. Jeff Denham and Sam Graves — Republican chairmen of key authorizing subcommittees in the House — expressed enthusiasm this week for the Trump White House’s long-awaited infrastructure proposal, which most Democrats already have rejected.

A program popular with state and local agencies that provides federal infrastructure grants would be denied funding under the Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget request released Feb. 12, which also would significantly reduce the Department of Transportation’s budget.

The Trump White House’s highly anticipated infrastructure funding plan released Feb. 12 calls for states to be given flexibility from federal tolling restrictions and to be able to reinvest toll revenues in infrastructure.

As we welcome President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated infrastructure plan, key policymakers will continue to dwell over the best strategies for funding and financing big-ticket infrastructure projects. A look at the week ahead for trucking on Capitol Hill.

President Donald Trump on Feb. 12 will propose funding strategies for the country’s transportation network that would include $50 billion for rural districts, and streamlining the permitting process for construction projects, a senior administration official told reporters over the weekend.

Groups representing local transportation agencies, governors, county executives and mayors expressed their willingness to partner with federal officials on a measure that would result in long-term funding for infrastructure maintenance and construction projects.

Congressional leaders have until March 23 to finalize a fiscal 2018 funding bill, as part of a deal Senate leaders recently struck that also would provide $90 billion for hurricane disaster relief and $20 billion for infrastructure projects.

The determination by federal investigators that two high-profile train collisions in New York and New Jersey were the result of undiagnosed sleep apnea prompted a member of the Senate Commerce Committee to rebuke the Trump administration’s withdrawal of a potential new policy on the sleep disorder.