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Contact Your Members of Congress Regarding Earmark and Program Requests

March 19, 2026

Contact Your Members of Congress Regarding Earmark and Program Requests

Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Earmark and Program Guidance for FY 2027 THUD Appropriations Bill

Appropriations Leaders signal the start of the FY 2027 Appropriations process

March 19, 2026

On March 18, the Senate Committee on Appropriations issued formal guidance on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 appropriations process. The memo provides detailed guidance outlining how Senators can make Community Project Funding, programmatic, and language requests. Earlier this month, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) sent a Dear Colleague letter to Members of Congress announcing the beginning of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 appropriations process.

APTA strongly encourages you to contact your Senators and Representative(s) and urge them to support specific projects and programs of importance for your public transit agency or passenger railroad.

It is very important to engage your Members of Congress as soon as possible to encourage them to submit your earmark and program priorities as part of the FY 2027 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations bill.

Each Member of Congress establishes individual deadlines for constituents to submit appropriations requests, and engaging your Member of Congress early will ensure your priorities have the best chance of being included in the FY 2027 THUD Appropriations bill.

The deadline for Representatives to submit their public transit and passenger rail project requests is March 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. ET.

The deadline for Senators to submit their THUD requests is April 20, 2026.

There are two types of requests that Members of Congress can submit to the Committee on Appropriations: Programmatic and Language requests, and Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests:

  • Programmatic and Language Requests are general funding requests for regional programs or bills that request that a department or Federal agency carry out an action, such as requesting $4.6 billion for the Capital Investment Grant program (CIG).
  • A Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS)/Community Project Funding Request, often called an earmark, is a provision that allows a Member of Congress to direct Federal funding towards loans and grants in their home state. Senators are permitted to submit up to 65 requests, and Representatives may submit up to 20 requests in FY 2027.

View the Senate Committee on Appropriations General Guidance for Senators for Programmatic and Language requests and Congressional Requested Spending requests for all Senate Appropriations bills.

View the House Committee on Appropriations General Guidance for Members of Congress for Community Project Funding Requests and Programmatic and Language Requests for all House Appropriations bills.

View the House THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Specific Guidance for Members of Congress for Transit Infrastructure Grants and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) Grants.

View APTA’s Guidance for FY 2027 Programmatic Request for FTA’s Capital Investment Grants.

Please note that all submissions to the Committee on Appropriations portal must be made by the Senators and Representatives directly.

In FY 2026, Congress appropriated more than $235 million for specific public transit and rail projects in the 2026 THUD Appropriations Act. The legislation included $147.9 million for specific public transit projects and $87.4 million for specific railroad projects in the Federal Railroad Administration’s CRISI grant program. View the full list of FY 2026 Congressionally Directed Spending projects.