Members only: Federal transportation update for May 18, 2015
Direct from T4A policy director Joe McAndrew, here’s a short update on the things you need to know in the world of federal policy in Washington, DC.
MAP-21
This week, Congress must act to extend MAP-21 before it expires next week while they are out on the Memorial Day recess. It appears that Congress has settled on a two-month extension through July 31, which will require no funding offset to pay for it. As of now, USDOT estimates that the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) will have $3.6 billion in cash on hand and the Mass Transit Account will still have $1.6 billion at the end of a two-month extension expiring at the end of July. On Thursday, Senators Carper (D-DE) and Boxer (D-CA) introduced a clean (i.e. no policy changes to MAP-21) two-month extension bill, and on Friday, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Shuster (R-PA) and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Ryan (R-WI) introduced a similar bill.
The House is expected to take up and pass their bill tomorrow (Tuesday) with the Senate considering their bill on Thursday.
Appropriations
Last week, the morning after Amtrak’s train derailed in Philadelphia, the full House Appropriations Committee passed its annual Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (Transportation-HUD) Appropriations bill that would cut more than $250 million from Amtrak, $200 million from FTA New Starts capital grant program, and $400 million from TIGER in FY16. The House is expected to take up the FY16 Transportation-HUD bill in early June when they return from the Memorial Day recess.
In the Senate, Appropriations Chairman Cochran (R-MS) provided top-line funding levels last week to his subcommittee chairmen, which allows the chairs to finalize their annual spending bills. Those funding levels haven’t yet been publicly released, but we don’t expect the Senate’s top-line number to be much better than the House’s $53.5 billion. This week, Senate Appropriations subcommittees are marking up the FY16 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill and the Energy and Water Development bill. We expect the Senate Transportation-HUD bill before the end of June.
Passenger Rail
The Senate Commerce Committee was set to release its proposed passenger rail authorization proposal last Wednesday, but in the wake of the passenger rail accident in Philadelphia, Chairman Thune (R-SD), Senator Wicker (R-MS), and Senator Booker (D-NJ) agreed that it was important to postpone consideration of the bipartisan passenger rail reauthorization out of respect to the victims and their families. While the Committee looks forward to taking up this important authorization, we now expect them to markup this bill in June. T4America is optimistic that the Senate bill will be an improvement on the bill Chairman Shuster steered through the House in February.