Omnibus Appropriations Update --Transit Funding Up 5.2 Percent!
November 22, 2004
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Good News! Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations
Act (H.R. 4818) on Saturday night by a vote of 60-35 in the Senate and 344-51
in the House. The measure combines nine pending FY 2005 appropriations bills,
including the Transportation-Treasury bill. The bill initially provided $7.708
billion in funding for the federal transit program but funding for all nine
appropriations bills was reduced by a .83 percent across-the-board cut. The
final total for transit in FY 2005 is thus $7.644 billion, an increase of
$378 million or 5.2 percent over last year. This increase for transit comes
despite the omnibus bill containing the "lowest increase (in overall
funding) in a decade," according to Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN).
Until the bill is signed by the President, which is expected soon, transit
programs will continue to be funded under a short-term Continuing Resolution
that expires on December 3.
The Conference Report (House Report 108-792) is now available on the House
Rules Committee website at http://www.house.gov/rules/h4818divh.pdf.
APTA will provide more detailed information on new starts, bus, and JARC earmarks
soon. The following figures for the major transit programs are a preliminary
analysis of available information:
|
Program
|
FY 2004 Appropriation
(Millions)
|
FY 2005 Appropriation
(Milions)
|
Change FY 2004 to FY 2005
(Percent)
|
|
Total All Programs
|
7,265.88
|
7,644.02
|
5.2%
|
|
Formula Total
|
3,816.35
|
3,998.71
|
4.8%
|
|
Capital Investment
|
3,138.87
|
3,311.11
|
5.5%
|
|
New Starts
|
1,315.98
|
1,437.39
|
9.2%
|
|
Fixed-Guideway Modernization
|
1,199.39
|
1,204.32
|
.4%
|
|
Bus and Bus Facilities
|
623.50
|
669.40
|
7.4%
|
|
Planning & Research
|
125.26
|
126.94
|
1.3%
|
|
Job Access and Reverse Commute
|
104.38
|
123.96
|
18.8%
|
|
University Centers
|
5.96
|
5.95
|
-.001%
|
|
FTA Operations
|
75.05
|
77.35
|
3.1%
|
In addition to the transit program funding, the omnibus bill provides $34.35
billion for the federal highway program and $1.426 billion for the Federal
Railroad Administration, including $1.207 billion for Amtrak; $19.3 million
is provided for Next Generation High Speed rail, including $3.1 million for
high-speed rail corridor planning, and $2 million for Maglev (all of these
figures are after the .83 percent cut).
The omnibus appropriations bill does not appear to modify committee report
language that accompanied both the House-passed and Senate Committee-passed
bills pertaining to a number of topics. For specifics on the report language,
please see the APTA Legislative Updates from September 24 (Senate) and July
23 (House) on the Government Affairs section of www.apta.com. The bill expands
authorization allowing cooperative procurement of major capital equipment
to five pilot projects from the current three, as proposed in the Senate.
There appears to be no change in the Senate report language calling for a
report by the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Inspector General on the
transit bus procurement process, or in the House report language regarding
new starts evaluation criteria.
Please check the Government Affairs section of www.apta.com for further updates
on the omnibus bill as information becomes available. For more information
on the appropriations process, please contact Rob Healy at (202) 496-4811
or rhealy@apta.com.
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