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Tag: 2011 budget

Government shutdown averted in last-minute budget deal, with some cuts to transportation

Down-to-the-wire negotiations late last night between President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid resulted in a budget deal containing about $38 billion in reductions from current spending levels and the prevention of a government shutdown.

With the Federal Government slated to close at midnight, the House and Senate passed a final one week stop-gap measure to allow the details of the agreement to be ironed out. The continuing resolution itself contains $2 billion in cuts that largely hit the U.S. Department of Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

By next week, Congress is expected to finalize its fiscal year 2011 budget — which runs through September — at the agreed-upon funding levels. President Obama made brief remarks on the budget compromise at the White House shortly after 11pm last night.

The cuts to transportation and housing passed last night were deemed largely non-controversial because they matched closely with the funding levels requested in President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget.

The High Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail program will receive $1 billion, a reduction of $1.5 billion from the previous year, and the New Starts program — a key revenue source for transit projects throughout the country — loses $280 million, though the resulting figure is reportedly sufficient to fund projects that have already received grants from USDOT. Other cuts include:

  • $6.3 million from the Transportation Planning, Research, and Development account
  • $2.5 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development; and
  • The Transit Research and University Research Centers Program budget is reduced to $64.2 million.

Details on the remainder of the fiscal year cuts and how they will affect transportation are not yet available, although Politico has early information on a few items:

One of the toughest fights, casting the White House as the budget cutter against reluctant Republicans, was in highway and transportation spending. But here the administration succeeded in cutting about $630 million in so-called orphan earmarks and $2.5 billion in unexpended contract authority.

We expect to hear more about the final package soon.

UPDATE: A White House blog post confirms that the fiscal year 2011 cuts include $630 million in earmarked transportation projects and $2.5 billion in funding that was slated for transportation projects.

Photo courtesy of the Washington Post.

Compromise on two-week spending bill temporarily spares crucial transportation programs from deep cuts

The federal government will keep the lights on next week after the U.S. Senate easily approved the House’s two-week stopgap measure containing $4 billion in spending cuts. The vote was 91-9.

Although some in the press have characterized the development as a victory for Republicans, the $4 billion in reductions is decidedly modest and overlaps with programs already targeted in President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget. Only two budget items — $650 million from a one-time Federal Highway Administration program and a handful of legislative earmarks – are transportation related.

However, the measure to fund the government for two weeks received 85 Democratic “no” votes in the House — including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi —  and a chilled reception in the Senate even from those Democrats voting in favor. Unifying the more liberal-leaning Senate Democrats wary of deep cuts with moderates who are more open to them could be difficult. Some members were also alarmed by remarks from Speaker John Boehner that cutting “one slice at a time” could achieve his party’s goals if deep reductions were not passed in one package.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica was a yes vote, as was top committee Democrat Nick Rahall. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer and Republican counterpart Jim Inhofe also voted yes.

Though spared for the time being, crucial transportation programs like New Starts, high-speed rail and TIGER grants remain on the chopping block. So far, cuts to transportation have not received a lion’s share of the attention, though Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois highlighted his opposition to TIGER grant cuts at two events last month and several House members offered amendments to restore essential funding to public transportation.

This week’s compromise does not preclude a shutdown later this month, given the seemingly wide gulf between the two parties on what level of spending cuts are acceptable. Some Democrats said they fear the short two-week timeline will induce gridlock and result in Republicans re-offering their $61 billion spending reduction plan as an alternative.

House approves 2011 budget containing deep cuts to transportation

FINAL UPDATE, 2/19/11, 9am: The House voted 235-189 in favor of an FY2011 budget containing $60 billion in spending cuts.

No Democrats supported the continuing resolution and three Republicans opposed it. The Hill has more here, and the final roll call vote is here.

ORIGINAL POST: The U.S House of Representatives is currently debating a bill to fund the government through September of this year. As we noted earlier in the week, the budget under consideration contains deep cuts to transportation, including many of travel options Americans use and support.

Some of the most important cuts to transportation contained in the initial language include:

  • New Starts, the program that funds new transit construction, gets cut by $430 million. There is also a rescission of about $300 million in unspent 2010 (fiscal year) funds.
  • High-speed rail is cut completely and the CR would rescind essentially all funds from 2010. Other than the money already spent, this entire program is eliminated.
  • The innovative TIGER program is eliminated completely and the unspent/unobligated FY10 funds are rescinded.
  • Amtrak appears to be mostly intact, avoiding the cuts that were proposed by the GOP study committee.

These cuts are the wrong direction for a fragile economy and high unemployment rate. And, as a recent report from Smart Growth America noted, spending on public transportation and infrastructure maintenance is one of the best job-creation tools around. Why would Congress put that at risk?

As if those cuts were not bad enough, several members offered amendments that would go even deeper. Some of the amendments  include:

  • Amendment No. 453, which would eliminate all funding for Amtrak. (Sponsor: Rep. Connie Mack, R- Florida)
  • Amendment No. 45, which would reduce Amtrak funding by $447 million (Sponsor: Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas)
  • Amendment No. 204, which would remove funding for the White House Director of Urban Affairs (Sponsor: Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana)

A number of amendments would restore critical programs. These include:

  • Amendment No. 400, which would restore all Recovery Act funding (Sponsor: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas)
  • Amendment No. 69, which would restore funding to the TIFIA grant program (Sponsor: Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colorado)
  • Amendment No. 44, which would restore most public transportation funding (Sponsor: Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York)

An amendment sponsored by Northern Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly that would have restored cuts to the Washington DC Metro system was ruled out of order by House Republicans and will not come up for a vote.

Congress is expected to continue debating for several hours, with a final vote time still unclear. Amendments relating to the Department of Transportation have not yet been considered.

UPDATE, 2/17/11, 9:30am: The House took up or postponed action on two amendments of interest late last night:

  • Amendment No. 511 (Nadler), which would have restored funding to several transportation programs, was ruled as out of order for lack of a revenue source and will not come up for a vote.
  • Amendment No. 43 (Sessions), which would reduce Amtrak funding by $447 million, was postponed and is expected to receive a vote today.

UPDATE, 11:15am: Amendment No. 43 (Sessions), which sought to reduce Amtrak funding by $447 million, was defeated by a vote of 176-250.

UPDATE, 3pm: The House still has a number of amendments to consider on the Transportation and Housing portions of the budget. Members will continue debating into the evening, with a late vote expected on the full package.

UPDATE, 7pm: Amendment No. 204 (Scalise), which seeks to remove funding for several positions, including the White House Director of Urban Affairs, was approved by a vote of 241-171.

The Hill has more information on this vote.

UPDATE, 2/18/11, 10am: The House adjourned past 1am last night without voting on the bill. Debate continues today.

UPDATE, 12:45pm: The House is debating the “Republican Study Committee” amendment, which would add an across-the-board 5.5 percent cut to the entire budget, with exemptions for defense and homeland security. The amendment would also reduce legislative budgets by 11 percent.

Republican Rep. Dan Lungren, a member of the Committee, is opposing the amendment, saying the cuts to Capitol Police and legislative staff are too deep. House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, also opposes the amendment.

UPDATE, 3:30pm: The amendment seeking an across-the-board spending cut of 5.5 percent was rejected by a vote of 147-281.

The Hill has more information.

House budget for the rest of 2011 has deep cuts for transportation

On the Friday before the President releases his budget for 2012 (forthcoming sometime this morning), the House Appropriations Committee, led by Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) released their funding proposal to carry the government through the rest of 2011.

Quick refresher: The government is currently operating under what’s known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires in March. Congress has been under pressure since late in 2010 to pass a full budget, but have been passing Continuing Resolutions due to an inability to agree on and pass a budget. These CRs basically continue funding levels from the 2010 fiscal year until Congress manages to pass a budget for 2011. Or they pass a CR with cuts and lower funding, which is what the House has proposed.

The 2011 budget that passed out of the Appropriations Committee Friday afternoon has some significant cuts for transportation, and some of them mirror the proposal that came from the Republican Study Committee a few weeks ago. There are a lot of cuts to very worthwhile programs across the board, but here are some of the highlights (lowlights?) for transportation:

  • New Starts, the program that funds new transit construction, gets cut by $430 million. There is also a rescission of about $300 million in unspent 2010 (fiscal year) funds.
  • High-speed rail is cut completely and the CR would rescind essentially all funds from 2010. Other than the money already spent, this entire program is eliminated.
  • The innovative TIGER program is eliminated completely and the unspent/unobligated FY10 funds are rescinded.
  • Amtrak appears to be mostly intact, avoiding the cuts that were proposed by the GOP study committee.

These cuts target exactly the kinds of projects that can create the most jobs and can help get our economy moving. Costs for labor and material are low right now, making it a prime time to spend on infrastructure, and we know that spending on public transportation creates more jobs than other types of transportation spending.

While these cuts are indeed severe and may get some support in the House, this proposal will still have to make it through the Senate.

We’ll be back later today with some information on how you can contact your Representative and urge them to reject these cuts to critical transportation projects.