(CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Monday that a $260 billion transportation bill advanced by Republican leaders is “focused on reform” and seeks to give more power to local governments for infrastructure spending.

At a summit on economic growth and job creation in Washington, sponsored by the center-right Young Guns Network, Cantor criticized the federal government’s tendency to “micromanage” business in America in order “to wipe out any risk that may be present in an entity or an industry.”

But when CNSNews.com asked Cantor if H.R. 7, the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act,” a reauthorization of federal transportation funding, is an example of micromanagement from Washington, he said it was actually a reform bill.

“The transportation bill is a bill that really is focused on reform,” Cantor said.  “And it’s basically moving in the direction of trying to give states the control over their highway budgets.”

The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act would authorize $260 billion in funding over five years, with royalties from expanded domestic oil production going to offset its cost.

“As we know, there’s not enough money in the transportation trust fund to do everything everybody wants,” the majority leader said. “And so what we’re trying to say is let’s prioritize, let’s put it into infrastructure, roads first, and let’s give states as much flexibility as possible going towards, ultimately, giving them the control of their money.

“The reforms have to do with permitting, it has to do with the fact there’s no earmarking in the bill anymore, there’s no dictate from Washington saying, ‘Here’s where you have to spend on my project or this project,’” he said.

“It is trying to clean up, sort of, how this process works and to yield and to defer more toward people on the ground in the communities and states that know a lot better than Washington how those dollars should be spent.”

When the Republicans retook the House of Representatives in 2010, a major priority of their “Pledge to America” was to cut spending.

“We will curb Washington’s spending habits and promote job creation, bring down the deficit, and build long-term fiscal stability,” stated the House majority's pledge.  “There is no reason to wait to reduce wasteful and unnecessary spending.”

H.R. 7, however, maintains spending levels from 2005’s Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act (SAFETEA), a $286 billion highway bill, which had increased federal transportation spending by 31 percent.

SAFETEA, which was passed when Republicans last held a majority in the House, included over 6,000 earmarks worth $24 billion. However, no pet projects for congressional districts, otherwise known as earmarks, will appear in the latest transportation bill, a reform praised by the Majority Leader.

Nevertheless, some conservatives oppose the measure because of its high cost.  The Club for Growth, a limited-government, free-market group, is urging House Republicans to vote against the bill: “Simply put, this is a massive 846-page bill that doesn't cut any spending at all,” said a statement on its Web site.

“Supporters of the bill will claim that there are plenty of positive reforms in the bill, like no earmarks or enhancement projects. But it’s still a remarkably bloated and inefficient piece of legislation.”

The Club for Growth says "true reform" would send "infrastructure building and maintenance back to the states and end or greatly reduce the federal gas tax.”

The new legislation includes the consolidation or elimination of 70 programs, allowing states to set their own transportation priorities, encourage states to partner with the private sector to finance and build projects, and condenses deadlines for federal agency project approvals, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“This proposal reforms and streamlines federal transportation programs, cuts red tape in the project approval process, increases states’ flexibility in determining their most critical transportation needs, and encourages private sector participation in financing and rebuilding our infrastructure,” according to the Committee.

The bill passed in the committee on Friday on a 29 to 24 vote.

Prior to 2005, the transportation trust fund was tied to the gas tax, which was originally intended to finance the interstate highway system, which was completed in the 1980s.  SAFETEA allowed for additional transportation programs that exceeded funding ability, leading to bailouts amounting to $35 billion, according to The Heritage Foundation.