CAGTC Members,
Late last night, Congress released an omnibus bill containing the remaining seven appropriations bills for fiscal year 2019 (FY19), including the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill. You can find the full text of the bill here and an explanatory statement from the House Committee on Appropriations here.
The THUD portion of the omnibus contains $71.079 billion in net discretionary budget authority, slightly more than fiscal year 2018’s $70.3 billion. The $71.079 billion in appropriations is the highest funding level for THUD since its subcommittee creation in 2007 (prior to 2007, it was the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee) and is a result of the bipartisan budget deal that was signed into law last year.
The BUILD program is funded at $900 million, $600 million less than FY18 levels but still more than the average $500 million that the TIGER program received in recent years. Additionally, the omnibus calls for a 50-50 split in project selections between urban and rural areas and includes $15 million for planning grants. It also mandates that USDOT make the awards based “solely on the selection criteria from the fiscal year 2017 Notice of Funding Opportunity” and stipulates that USDOT not use the Federal share or an applicant’s ability to generate non-Federal revenue as a selection criterion.
As a reminder, the continuing resolution that ended the longest federal government shutdown in history last month expires tomorrow, February 15, at midnight. The House is expected to vote on this omnibus package this evening while the Senate is scheduled to vote on it tomorrow. Currently, President Trump is expected to sign the bill.
We will continue to monitor and keep you updated.
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
(202) 828-9100