By Ron Thaniel
July 3, 2006

The House of Representatives approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 5576) on June 14 by a vote of 406-22.

The bill funds Amtrak at $1.11 billion. This is 24 percent above the $900 million requested by President Bush and approved in committee.

$1.11 billion is $180 million less than Amtrak’s FY06 funding level of $1.294 billion. The Conference is urging the Senate to include no less than $1.59 billion for Amtrak’s FY07 funding while Congress debates the long-term authorization of the railroad.

The bill funds Federal Transit Administration (FTA) programs at a record $8.97 billion level, approximately $4 million above the amount authorized and guaranteed by SAFETEA-LU. This is a 5.6 percent increase over the final amount appropriated for FY06.

The bill provides no funding for the small starts program in FY07, directing these funds to the existing new starts program instead. The FTA has not completed its rulemaking for this newly-created program for smaller fixed guideway projects such as street cars, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit lines.

The bill funds the Federal-aid highways program at $39.1 billion, as set by SAFETEA-LU. This is equal to the President’s request and $3.5 billion more than the FY 2006 enacted level, excluding emergency supplementals.

A total of $15.2 billion is provided to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) -- $1.4 billion above the fiscal year 2006 enacted level and $2.4 billion above the President’s request. This includes funding for FAA operations, for the Airport Improvement Program, and for Essential Air Service. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee has tentatively scheduled its subcommittee markup of the FY07 Transportation Appropriations bill on July 18 with the full committee markup to follow on July 20.

Last week in a letter to the Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, The U.S. Conference of Mayors urged increased funding for public transportation security beyond the House approved funding level of $200 million.

Stating “As you consider the Fiscal Year 2007 Department of Homeland Security(DHS) Appropriations bill, H.R. 5441, attached is the Conference’s resolution adopted earlier this month at our 74th Annual Meeting urging increases in funding for transit security in the areas of communications, surveillance, detection, and research.”

Despite the fact the fact that public transportation is growing faster than any other mode of transportation, and with growing number of terror attacks on bus and rail systems worldwide, the Senate Appropriations Committee followed the decision of the Subcommittee and approved $150 million for public transportation security (rail and transit) security grants - $50 million less than the House.

The Conference will continue to urge increased funding as this bill moves to the Floor for consideration after the July 4 recess.