CAGTC Members,
Happy New Year! We have a few updates out of Washington, D.C. to start 2018:
- Congressman Shuster (R-PA) announced today that he will not run for re-election this year. Rep. Shuster currently serves as the Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee but, per Republican Caucus rules, is term limited and would not have been able to hold the Chairmanship after this year. In his statement regarding his retirement, Rep. Shuster said he wanted to give “100 percent” of his final year as Chairman of the T&I Committee to passing an infrastructure bill without the distraction of campaigning.
- Various officials have said the White House will release a infrastructure plan sometime this month. The plan has been described as a 70-page memo on which a bill could be based but will not be legislative text and will most likely not include pay-fors.
- Late last month, Congress passed its third continuing resolution (CR) for the 2018 fiscal year (FY18), funding the federal government through January 19, 2018. As a reminder, in an effort to finish the FY18 appropriations process prior to the October 1, 2017 deadline, in September 2017 the House passed a minibus comprised of the eight remaining appropriations bills they had yet to complete, including the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill. The minibus included $17.8 billion in discretionary funding for USDOT ($646 less than FY17 enacted levels) and no funding for TIGER. The Senate introduced a THUD bill in July 2017, which included $19.47 billion in discretionary appropriations for USDOT and $550 million for TIGER ($50 million above FY17 enacted levels). I will keep you updated as the appropriations process continues.
Thank you!
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org