Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., has joined the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, restoring a coveted spot that his southern Illinois district, a transportation hub, held for a quarter century.
Former Rep. Jerry Costello, a Democrat who represented the district from 1989 to 2013, rose to become chairman of the committee’s Aviation Subcommittee.
Costello’s successor, Democrat Bill Enyart, was a member of the committee until Bost ousted him in 2014. Bost will serve on three of the panel’s six subcommittees, including those that oversee highways, railroads and water resources.
Before coming to Congress, Bost, of Murphysboro, Ill., was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, managed his family’s trucking business and served as a firefighter.
Bost’s southern Illinois district is a crossroads of navigable waterways, interstate highways and railroads.
In a statement, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., the Transportation Committee’s chairman, said Bost’s experience would “benefit the work the committee does in overseeing the nation’s transportation network and federal emergency response programs.”
Bost’s district is a crossroads of navigable waterways, interstate highways and railroads. It includes key sections of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, used to ship large quantities of coal and grain. It also includes East St. Louis, the nation’s third-busiest freight rail hub.
“I am excited to roll up my sleeves and get to work on the committee,” Bost said in a statement.
Curtis Tate: 202-383-6018, @tatecurtis