Dear CAGTC Members,
This evening the FY 18 omnibus legislation was made public. The bill roughly triples the amount of money for the TIGER program – proposing $1.5 billion for FY18; in recent years, the program has received roughly $500 million in annual appropriations. The omnibus contains legislation & funding for all 12 of the annual appropriations bills, totaling $1.3 trillion. Per Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, the 12 bills “have been negotiated in good faith by Committee leaders, House and Senate Leadership on both sides of the aisle, and the White House… And it makes major investments in infrastructure across the board – whether it is transportation, energy, water, or cyber – to help boost our economy and promote future growth.” Per last month’s budget agreement, the THUD bill contains $70.3 billion in net discretionary spending – $12.65 billion above FY17.
A full summary of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) portion can be found here: https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/03.21.18_fy18_omnibus_-_thud_-_summary.pdf. Transportation highlights of interest to our CAGTC members are as follows:
- Meets FAST Act authorization levels for FY18 and provides an extra $2.5 billion in discretionary highway funding, which shall be divided up between a rural bridge competitive grant program, funding for public lands, and existing formula programs.
- $27.3 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Transportation for fiscal year 2018. This is $8.7 billion above FY17.
- $1.5 billion for the TIGER competitive grant program, a $1 billion increase over FY17 (more on this below).
- $3.1 billion for rail – including $1.9 billion for Amtrak, of which $650 million is for Northeast Corridor grants and $1.3 billion is to support the national network. $250 million is available for Positive Train Control Grants.
- $980 million for the Maritime Administration, $457 million above FY17 enacted level, to “increase the productivity, efficiency, and safety of the nation’s ports and intermodal water and land transportation.”
- $834 million in transit infrastructure grants above what was appropriated in FY17 2017.
Again, the bill provides $1.5 billion for the TIGER program, and the following parameters apply:
- Minimum award size is $5 million*, and maximum award size is $25 million (this remains the same as FY17)
- No state can receive more than 10 percent of total funding (this remains the same as FY17, but the size of the program has tripled)
- The proposal stipulates that DOT “shall not use the Federal share as a selection criteria in awarding projects.”
- Federal cost share can be up to 80%, except in rural areas, where the Secretary will have the discretion to increase Federal cost share over 80%.
- Rural areas must receive at least 30 percent of total funds, and * - a minimum award size for a rural project is $1 million, not $5 million.
We will continue to dig through this package and send further updates/ analysis as necessary. As a reminder, the current extension expires on Friday, March 23. House leadership has indicated that they hope to bring the package up for a vote tomorrow.
Thank you!
Elaine
Elaine Nessle
Executive Director
Coalition for America's Gateways & Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW | Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 828-9100
Mobile: (607) 368-5028
www.tradecorridors.org