Legislative Update
May 18, 2005
(Download
in Adobe PDF format)
By a vote of 89-11, the Senate
on May 17 passed H.R. 3, the bill that would reauthorize federal transit and highway
programs through Fiscal Year 2009. The bill guarantees $293.8 billion in funding,
including $53.8 billion for transit over six years. Just prior to final passage,
the Senate rejected an amendment, by a vote of 84-16, offered by Senator Jeff
Sessions (R-AL) that would have cut funding for the overall bill by more than
$10 billion, including $5 billion from transit formula grants and research programs,
$4 billion from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ), and
cuts from other programs. Today's roll-call votes are available at http://thomas.loc.gov/;
click on "Roll Call Votes" then on "Senate, 109th (2005-06), 1st
session."
No major transit-related changes were made to the bill on
the Senate Floor. A more thorough analysis and comparison of the transit-related
provisions in the Senate and House-passed bills will be made available soon. The
annual funding levels authorized in each bill through FY 2009 are as follows:
|
Transit Funding in Senate and House TEA 21 Reauthorization Bills |
| In millions of dollars |
| Category | FY
2004 | FY 2005 |
FY 2006 | FY 2007 |
FY 2008 | FY 2009 |
Six-year Total |
| Senate-passed
Bill Bill as Amended | $7,266 |
$7,646 | $8,900 |
$9,267 | $10,051 |
$10,686 | $53,816 |
| House-passed Bill |
$7,266 | $7,646
| $8,482 |
$9,042 | $9,639 |
$10,277 | $52,352 |
The two bills must now go to a conference committee for resolution
of the differences in the bills. The Senate and House have indicated they plan
to appoint conferees as soon as possible. There is not yet a tentative schedule
for the conference committee to meet. The current TEA 21 legislation extension
expires May 31.
For more information on reauthorization, please contact
Rob Healy of APTA's Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4811 or email rhealy@apta.com.
Some of these pages may include links to documents in the Adobe PDF format. Please download the Adobe PDF reader if you have not already done so.
