AASHTO Journal, 8 June 2012
The House Appropriations Committee unveiled its proposal for 2013 transportation funding on Wednesday, in which spending levels matched those agreed upon in by the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee (see related story: bit.ly/AJsenateapprops).
Appropriators allocated $55 billion for transportation, housing and urban development in 2013, dependent on the reauthorization of a surface transportation bill.
“Making smart investments in the nation’s transportation infrastructure is one of the best ways to help provide an environment for American businesses to create jobs and economic growth,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) in a statement. “This bill targets taxpayer dollars where they can be best used to improve the reliability, safety, and efficiency of our transportation systems, while also holding the line on spending to help reduce the nation’s growing deficits.”
From that $55 billion, $39.1 billion was appropriated for highways (the same amount as 2012), $12.6 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration (an increase of $91 million from 2012), $2 billion for rail (up $384 million from 2012), and $2 billion for transit ($181 million less than the 2012 amount).
In an effort to cut funding, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) proposed a motion that would instruct transportation conference committee members to cut all transportation funding by almost a third. As of press time, that motion has not come up for a vote.
Additional information on the transportation allocations is available at 1.usa.gov/houseapprops. The 152-page appropriations bill is available in its entirety at 1.usa.gov/housebill2013.