Build American 250 Act would reauthorize DBE Program

News - Published May 26, 2026

United States Representatives Sam Graves (of Missouri) and Rick Larsen (of Washington), who are the Chairman and the Ranking Member, respectively, of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, have jointly released a bill entitle the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America's 250th Act, to be referred to as the BUILD America 250 Act.

The bill is a five year surface transportation funding bill which, if passed, would authorize $580 billion in spending through September 30th of 2031. Notably, the Build America 250 Act would reauthorize the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program for that period, in a manner consistent with the recent interim final rule from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT): meaning that under the provisions of the bill, businesses would be eligible for DBE certification if they could demonstrate "social and economic disadvantage" (with race and gender not making applicants presumptively disadvantaged). The bill instructs the Secretary of Transportation to set the criteria for what constitutes social and economic disadvantage. The bill would also set a national aspirational DBE participation goal of 10 percent.

Read a press release from the office of Representative Graves at https://graves.house.gov/media/press-releases/graves-introduces-bipartisan-five-year-surface-transportation-reauthorization.

Find the bill at https://transportation.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409495.