Final Senate Compromise Appears to Avoid Cutting Transit Funds
February 7, 2009
Nelson/Collins Compromise Focuses Cuts on Education and State Fiscal Stabilization
The final version of the compromise stimulus bill, which was formulated by a group of about 20 moderate senators, has been released by Senated Ben Nelson (D-NE). It does not decrease funds currently proposed to be allocated to high-speed rail or transit programs, but it does not meet the higher standards for funding for fixed guideways and New Starts that were provided in the amendment added to the House version of the bill by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Here’s a comparison of the passed House bill and the proposed Senate bill by the moderates:
| Program | Passed House Bill | Proposed Senate Bill |
| Grants to Amtrak | $800 m | $850 m |
| Grants to States for Rail | $300 m | $250 m |
| High-Speed Rail | 0 | $2 b |
| Total Rail | $1.1 b | $3.1 b |
| Transit Formula Funds | $7.5 b | $8.4 b |
| Fixed Guideway Modernization | $2 b | 0 |
| New Starts | $2.5 b | 0 |
| Total Transit | $12 b | $8.4 b |
| Discretionary Grants | 0 | $5.5 b |
—
The bills are quite different: the Senate bill provides a lot of money for high-speed rail, whereas the House bill provides nothing at all. Meanwhile, while the House bill provides $4.5 billion for fixed guideway modernizaion and new starts funds, the Senate bill provides nothing for those programs, rather placing $5.5 billion in a discretionary fund that the Secretary of the Department of Transportation will have control over; money in that pot can theoretically be transferred to both transit and highway projects.
The principal point here is this: the bills are different enough that we won’t know what the final bill will look like until the Senate/House conference committee releases its report after it meets. But the good news is that the Senate’s moderates haven’t chosen to take out their money-cutting desires on transit or rail, which means that the conference committee will have at least an adequate amount of funds for these transportation needs.
First, though, the Senate has to actually pass the stimulus bill as newly proposed.
Filed under: congress, finance
10 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Michelle | February 7, 2009 at 09:42
Great summary. Thank you!
2.
herenthere | February 7, 2009 at 13:42
I feel happy that I took my part in emailing/calling senators!
3.
Jason Bennett | February 7, 2009 at 16:54
Very helpful information, Yonah. Keep up the good work. I’d be interested in where you get this sort of preliminary information.
4.
Yonah Freemark | February 7, 2009 at 18:53
If I told you that, Jason, I’d have to kill you.
5.
Wil S | February 9, 2009 at 08:40
BAHAHAHA Yonah. No really. Where or whom are your sources. You little spy.
6.
Jason Bennett | February 9, 2009 at 09:19
Funny.
If you wonder why I ask, I’m an academic librarian for a political science department.
7.
Yonah Freemark | February 9, 2009 at 09:25
OK, I succumb to the pressure.
I have a few contacts working in Congress; I have a strong liking for reading and understanding the law, which is usually posted online either at Thomas.gov or by senators and congressman; and I call people.
8.
Mr. Transit | February 9, 2009 at 14:01
Are there any “shovel ready” high speed rail projects?
9.
Kampanye Damai Pemilu Indonesia 2009 | April 25, 2009 at 06:19
thanks for this usefull informations.. now i find what i want to know.. thank you so much..
10.
bisnis online | May 13, 2009 at 21:52
I find this information very interesting, thanks!
Leave a Comment
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
TrackBack URL | RSS feed for comments on this post.