House Names Reauthorization Conferees
June 4, 2004
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On June 3 the House of Representatives named its members
of the TEA 21 reauthorization conference committee. House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay (R-TX) will be the House Chair of the Conference Committee. Conferees
from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, who will work
on the entire bill except for revenue-related provisions, are: Reps. Young
(R-AK), Petri (R-WI), Boehlert (R-NY), Coble (R-NC), Duncan (R-TN), Mica (R-FL),
Hoekstra (R-MI), Ehlers (R-MI), Baucus (R-AL), LaTourette (R-OH), Gary Miller
(R-CA), Rehberg (R-MT), and Beauprez (R-CO), Oberstar (D-MN), Rahall (D-WV),
Lipinski (D-IL), DeFazio (D-OR), Costello (D-IL), Norton (D-DC), Nadler (D-NY),
Menendez (D-NJ), Brown (D-FL), Filner (D-CA), and E.B. Johnson (D-TX).
Conferees from the House Committee on Ways and Means, who will have exclusive
jurisdiction over revenue-related provisions, are: Reps. Thomas (R-CA), McCrery
(R-LA), and Rangel (D-NY).
Conferees from the following committees will consider certain provisions
only:
Committee on the Budget: Nussle (R-IA), Shays (R-CT) and Spratt (D-SC).
Committee on Education and the Workforce: Norwood (R-GA), Biggert (R-IL)
and George Miller (D-CA).
Committee on Energy and Commerce: Barton (R-TX), Pickering (R-MS) and Dingell
(D-MI).
Committee on Government Reform: Tom Davis (R-VA), Schrock (R-VA) and Waxman
(D-CA).
Committee on the Judiciary: Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Smith (R-TX) and Conyers
(D-MI).
Committee on Resources: Pombo (R-CA), Gibbons (R-NV) and Kind (D-WI).
Committee on Rules: Dreier (R-CA), Sessions (R-TX) and Frost (D-TX).
Committee on Science: Gilchrest (R-MD), Neugebauer (R-TX) and Gordon (D-TN).
House and Senate staff of the relevant committees have already begun preliminary
work on crafting a compromise bill. The first meeting of the Conference Committee
members is expected to be Wednesday, June 9. The current TEA 21 extension
expires on June 30. For Senate members of the Conference Committee, please
see APTA's May 21 Legislative Update.
For more information, please contact Rob Healy in the APTA Government Affairs
Department at (202) 496-4811, or rhealy@apta.com.
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Action Call!
-
The conference process is the final and most critical step in producing
a 6-year reauthorization bill! If your Senator or Representative
is on the Conference Committee, please contact them immediately
and urge them to support a reauthorization bill in conference with
funding levels no less than those in the Senate-passed bill (S.1072)
- $318 billion overall, with $56.5 billion guaranteed for transit.
Continue to use the Transit Action Center on the APTA website at
www.apta.com to make your support for reauthorization known. With
the conference on the legislation about to begin, your support is
critical!
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FY 2005 APPROPRIATIONS ALLOCATIONS COULD CUT TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
On June 3 House Appropriations Chairman Young (R-FL) released draft subcommittee
allocations for FY 2005, including $25.44 billion for the Transportation,
Treasury and Independent Agencies subcommittee. This amount is $2.68 billion
below last year's final appropriated amount, a 9.5 percent decrease. This
allocation does not apply to Trust Fund resources for the highway and transit
programs, which are expected to be maintained at current levels. The allocation
does apply to a variety of transportation, treasury, and independent agency
programs, including the General Fund portion of the federal transit program
which is currently $1.5 billion. Though it is not clear where the cuts ultimately
would be made, it could mean a reduction in the General Fund portion of the
FY 2005 transit program. The Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation,
Treasury, and Independent Agencies has not yet scheduled a markup of the FY
2005 appropriations bill. APTA will provide updates as details become available.
For more information, please contact Rob Healy in the APTA Government Affairs
Department at (202) 496-4811, or rhealy@apta.com.
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY MARKUP INCLUDES FUNDS
FOR RAIL SECURITY
On June 3, The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security reported
a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for FY 2005. While no written
legislative language has been made available, a press release from Chairman
Hal Rogers (R-KY) indicates the bill would fund the Department of Homeland
Security at $30.8 billion in FY 2005, an increase of $1.5 billion over FY
2004. Included in the appropriation would be $4.1 billion for a variety of
programs to support state and local first responders, including $1 billion
for the high-density, high-threat urban areas grant program; no less than
$100 million of which would be dedicated to rail and transit security. The
bill would also fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at $5.7
billion. As in the past much of the funding would be dedicated to aviation
security. The bill, however, does include $11 million for rail security demonstration
projects and $10 million for intercity bus security.
Subcommittee staff have indicated that no written legislative language will
be made available until the full appropriations committee takes action on
the bill. APTA staff will continue to work with staff to learn more details.
For further information, contact APTA's Tom Yedinak at (202) 496-4865 or
tyedinak@apta.com.
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