This afternoon, the House of Representatives started debate on H.R. 2112, a so-called “minibus” bill that provides federal funding for the Departments of Transportation; Housing & Urban Development, Agriculture; and Commerce/Justice/Science). Once the "minibus" passes the House, it will be considered by the Senate where it is also likely to pass. The funding level in the "minibus" represents a $7 billion decrease from last year. Among the items getting “zeroed-out” for no funding are high speed rail and a national infrastructure bank.
The House also passed a measure known as a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government funded through Dec. 16, by a vote of
298 to 121. That short term measure will be considered by the Senate this evening. AGC played a critical role in ensuring that funding for transportation infrastructure programs remained at near current levels in the House’s short term measure.
The minibus is an improvement over an earlier House appropriations transportation bill that would have cut federal highway funding by $14 billion. The Senate version of that same bill would have maintained current funding levels. AGC communicated with members negotiating the final minibus bill, urging them to accept the Senate funding levels. AGC succeeded in getting the final funding level for the highway program at $39.883 billion (including $1.662 billion in emergency relief) which is nearly identical to the prior years’ funding level. Below is a list of other programs and their fiscal year 2012 funding levels as provided in the "minibus.”
|
FY 2011(enacted) |
FY 2012 (conference) |
| Federal-aid Highways (obligation limit) |
$41.107 billion |
$39.144 billion |
| Federal-aid Highways (obligation limit) |
$41.107 billion |
$39.144 billion |
| Federal-aid Highways (Emergency Relief) |
|
$1.663 billion |
| FTA Formula/Bus Grants (Obligation Limit) |
$8.343 billion |
$8.361 billion |
| FTA Capital Investment Grants |
$1.597 billion |
$1.955 billion |
| TIGER Discretionary Grants |
$527 million |
$500 million |
| Amtrak |
$1.503 billion |
$1.439 billion |
| FAA Airport Grants (Obligation Limit) |
$3.515 billion |
$ 3.350 billion |
For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org. 