The U.S. House of Representatives hit the mandatory $52-billion discretionary-funding target for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. That looks like $1.2 billion more than fiscal year 2014 (FY14), but an Appropriations Committee press release points out that the amount is actually $1.8 billion less because of lower Federal Housing Administration receipts.
Here are the details that affect public works departments.
The U.S. DOT’s $17.1-billion appropriation is $727.3 million less than FY14.
- Highway Trust Fund: $40.25 billion, same as FY14
- Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants: $100 million, $500 million less than FY14. Applications for FY14 funding totaled $9.5 billion, 15 times more than the $600 million set aside for the program.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): $824 million, a $5-million increase
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: $572 million
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration: $205.2 million, a $19.4-million increase
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): $15.7 billion, $7.3 million less than FY14. Includes …
- $852.4 million for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)
- $140 million for the Contract Tower Program
- Federal Railroad Administration (FRA): $1.4 billion, $193 million less than FY14. Includes …
- $340 million for Amtrak
- $850 million for capital grants
- $0 for High-Speed Rail
- Federal Transit Administration (FTA): $10.5 billion. Includes …$8.6 billion for formula grants, $1.7 billion of which is for Capital Investment Grants, which fund New Starts, Small Starts, and Core Capacity projects
- Maritime Administration: $305 million, $72 million less than FY14
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s $40.3-billion appropriation is $769 million less than FY14. Of that, $3 billion – roughly the same as FY14 – is for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG).