Transportation For America » House Appropriations Recovery Bill Could Shortchange Crumbling Infrastructure, Undermine Existing Public Transit and Rail Initiatives

House Appropriations Recovery Bill Could Shortchange Crumbling Infrastructure, Undermine Existing Public Transit and Rail Initiatives

January 16, 2009
By Transportation for America

Updated analysis as of 1-16-09 3:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment proposal coming out of the House Appropriations Committee today fails to move America forward in reducing our oil dependency, creating opportunity for all Americans, and making us competitive for the 21st Century economy.

	Contact: David Goldberg 202-412-7930 david.goldberg@T4America.org
	Download this Release (.pdf)

The House Appropriations has two key shortcomings, especially in comparison to the superior proposal put forward last week by Congressman Oberstar, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:

First, the proposal only pays lip service to ensuring that the recovery bill puts Americans back to work by maintaining and repairing our crumbling roads and bridges. Without explicit language prioritizing a fix-it-first approach to infrastructure investment written into the legislation, federal funds could be wasted adding new highways to a system the House bill describes as “crumbling”. This would have the effect of digging ourselves a deeper hole of oil dependence, even as we invest stimulus money elsewhere in the hope of finding a way out.

Second, the House Appropriations proposal does nothing to provide immediate help for America’s transit systems, which employ thousands of hard working Americans and transport millions more to their jobs every day. Even as ridership has surged over the last year, transit providers have been hit by falling local revenues and volatile fuel prices. Without federal funds to keep our existing public transportation operating, transit agencies in towns and cities across the country will be forced to institute massive layoffs, service cuts and fare increases for the American workers who are already struggling the most to make ends meet. If the federal government can provide billions of dollars in operating assistance to our banks and financial institutions on Wall Street, then it should be able to provide operating assistance to a transit system used by Main Street Americans.

President-elect Obama’s nominee for transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, can see this firsthand: The transit system in his home town of Peoria, IL just this week announced possible deep service cuts and higher fares in the face of a potential $3 million budget shortfall. These jobs and services can be saved with an investment that is modest in the scheme of the recovery package. The significantly superior stimulus proposal by Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would solve these issues with a $2 billion assistance fund.

In fact, Transportation for America finds the Oberstar bill to be far more likely to provide a meaningful stimulus while guiding investment to areas of greatest need and productivity. As Oberstar designed it, the measure would ensure the job creation we need immediately without slowing the process down with a lot of red tape.

Below is an analysis showing the differences between the House Appropriations proposal and Congressman Oberstar’s forward-thinking approach:

*Updated analysis as of 1.16.09 3:30 p.m.

	House Transportation Recovery Proposal	Oberstar Transportation Recovery Proposal
Highway and Bridge Projects	$30 billion	$30.25 billion
Transit Projects and Service	$9 billion	$12 billion
Capital Investment Grants (New Ready-to-go Transit Construction through the New Starts Program)	$1 billion	$2.5 billion
Assistance for Transit Upgrades, Repair, & Purchase of New Equipment	$8 billion	$7.5 billion
Energy Assistance to Prevent Transit Layoffs & Fare Increases	–	$2 billion
Amtrak and Intercity Rail	$1.1 billion	$5 billion

Total Roads and Bridges Funding	$30 billion	$30.25 billion
Percentage Roads and Bridges	75%	64%
Total Transit & Rail Funding	$10.1 billion	$17 billion
Percentage Transit & Rail	25%	36%

Timeline for Projects	Priority will be given to projects that can award bids in 120 days.	Priority will be given to projects that can award bids in 90 days.
Accountability Measures	All bids & projects must be posted on a special website, including a description, purpose, and justification for each project. A Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will be created to review management of recovery dollars. The seven member board includes Inspectors General and Deputy Cabinet secretaries.	Recipients must submit a plan of projects within 90 days, then provide regular updates on the status of bids, contracts, and construction, and the number of jobs created by projects. (Reports at 30 days, 60 days, 120 days, 180 days, one year, and three years)
Distribution of Funding	Priority should be given to projects that are located in areas that have lower per capita income and higher unemployment rates than the national average, as well projects included in an approved Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and/or Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), are projected for completion within a three-year time frame.	Requires recipients of funds to ensure that the money is distributed equitably throughout the state and metropolitan areas.
Funding for Metro Governments (in addition to States)	$7.39 billion of the highway & bridge funds sub-allocated to Metropolitan Planning Organizations.	Requires highway & bridge funding to be sub-allocated to Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Filed under: Press Releases
Tags: economic recovery, oberstar, Press Releases, stimulus

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http://exclusivemotorcyclelanes.blogspot.com/ Duane Verner

Please ensure that the recovery bill transportation investments support goals of reducing energy use. We need to continue the message of “Change” not fall back to the infrastructure status quo of building more highways and inducing sprawl.
Alison Kendall

While I agree we need to prioritize transit over more highway building and new roads, I don’t see a discussion here of bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects. Better accommodation for these highly efficient, completely green, “human powered” transportation modes is an essential, low cost strategy which creates more livable communities.

As an urban planner working on pedestrian and bicycle planning projects in Los Angeles County, I would like to see much more emphasis on these low cost, highly efficient, environmentally beneficial projects.
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