House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (FL) outlined on July 7 his priorities for the long-delayed six-year federal surface transportation authorization for highway, transit, rail and safety programs, with a focus on the National Highway System, which includes the Interstate Highway System. No timeframe was provided for release of legislative text or markup.
The House Budget Resolution (H Con Res 34) limits the authorization to the level of spending that the Highway Trust Fund can support, which is approximately $230 billion over six years. This represents a one-third cut from current funding levels. The proposal would underfund the nation’s surface transportation program, including transit with a cut of more than 30 percent.
The proposal significantly devolves authority back to states from cities by rejecting the Obama Administration’s TIGER and Livable Communities initiatives as well as cycling and pedestrian investments and the long-standing Transportation Enhancements program. “States will no longer be required to spend highway funding on non-highway activities; but they will be permitted to fund those activities if they choose to,” as outlined in the proposal. “States will be provided flexibility to spend funding on projects they choose.” Current law suballocation of Surface Transportation Program to metropolitan areas will continue. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program will continue, though states will not be “required to spend a specific amount of funding on specific types of projects.” There are no additional details in the outline on these two important urban-focused programs.
The transit program will focus on suburban and rural areas. As transit is the backbone of mobility in cities, this is a statement of significant concern. The outline would streamline the New Starts and Small Starts process, stating that it would cut project development time in half. There are no additional details to these significant policy changes to the transit program. Transit will roughly retain its historic 20 percent share of the federal transportation program.
Amtrak and high-speed rail are included, but with no funding for high-speed rail projects and a 25 percent cut to Amtrak’s operating subsidy in FY 2012 and 2013. It also eliminates the intercity rail capital grant program, which cities have used to promote community and economic development around their stations. The bill to privatize the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and national system will not be included in Mica’s surface transportation authorization.
The proposal rejects the Obama Administration’s proposal for a National Infrastructure Bank in favor of State Infrastructure Banks, which essentially eliminates future funding for the popular TIGER program and high-speed rail program. It also does not include Build America Bonds.
The Mica bill would increase funding for the TIFIA loan program from $122 million annually to $1 billion, resulting in $60 billion in loans to fund at least $120 billion in transportation projects. TIFIA provides secured loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit for transportation projects of national and regional significance. The outline would allow half of the project cost to be funded through TIFIA and accelerate the application process.
Numerous questions remain regarding the details of this proposal. In a departure from the largely bipartisan endorsement of past surface transportation bills, this outline does not have the support of the Committee’s Ranking Democrats, which reflects the increasingly partisan climate in Washington.
The current SAFETEA-LU legislation expired on September 30, 2009. The current extension expires on September 30.