Senate Passes FY 2014 Budget Plan

AASHTO Journal, 29 March 2013

Just a day and a half after the House passed a fiscal year 2014 budget resolution (see related AASHTO Journal story here), members of the Senate early Saturday morning (March 23) passed their own budget resolution, 50-49.

The Senate FY 2014 budget plan, put forth by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), includes a $100 billion “targeted jobs and infrastructure package” that aims to increase employment and address infrastructure issues. Roughly $70 billion of that would be tapped for transportation-related projects — $50 billion for general transportation infrastructure, $10 billion for fixing the nation’s major dams, and $10 billion to create an infrastructure bank.

The House plan, set forth by House Appropriations Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), identifies transportation as an area in which funding may be cut.

“The mechanisms of federal highway and transit spending have become distorted, leading to imprudent, irresponsible, and often downright wasteful spending,” says a summary of the House Budget. The summary goes on to identify high-speed and intercity rail projects as areas in which to cut, as they “should only be pursued if they can be established as self-supporting commercial services.”

Still, Murray expressed her hope that the House and Senate would come together to hammer out differences and come to an agreement regarding a budget for the next fiscal year, which officially begins Oct. 1, 2013.

“I spoke with Chairman Ryan after his budget passed the House to congratulate him and continue our conversation about moving this process forward,” Murray said in a statement. “I am confident that if Republicans join Democrats at the table and are truly ready to compromise, we can get to the balanced and bipartisan deal that the American people expect and deserve.”

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