Dear CAGTC Members,
On July 31, the House passed its FY21 Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill by a vote of 217-197. The legislation passed as part of a minibus which incorporated five other appropriations bills providing funding for Defense, Commerce, Justice, Science, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The House adopted 18 amendments to the THUD section of the minibus, none of which made significant changes to its freight funding provisions.
The Senate has not yet introduced their own versions of any of the 12 appropriations bills for FY21, increasing the likelihood of a short-term continuing resolution that would extend current funding levels beyond September 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
The White House Office of Management and Budget has issued a veto threat for H.R. 7617 opposing the inclusion of “new and excessive parameters and timelines” within BUILD as well as “several other” grant programs. The statement also criticized the “excessive” overall funding levels for USDOT, the Highway Trust Fund amounts, and the $26 billion in emergency spending. It also noted that “the bill should support the FY 2021 Budget Request to provide $1 billion in discretionary budget authority to the Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) competitive grant program, which has a proven track record of supporting nationally- and regionally-significant freight and highway congestion relief projects.”
The full text of the package can be found here and a brief summary of its key transportation funding provisions can be found in the July 8 email.
Thank you,
Cecile