By Ron Thaniel and Willa Brown, USCM Intern
July 26, 2004

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies marked up July 15 its $89.9 billion FY05 transportation appropriations bill. While $1 billion more than the Administration's FY05 budget, public transit, in particular New Starts, and Amtrak received significant cuts.

Amtrak Funding Cut By 25 Percent

The Subcommittee approved $900 million for Amtrak - a 25 percent reduction over current FY04 funding. Amtrak has said $900 million will create a shutdown situation of the system in early 2005. Earlier this year, the House Budget Committee allocated $1.2 billion for Amtrak, the same amount that was allocated in FY04. Amtrak is seeking $1.8 billion to cover operating deficit, debt service and infrastructure upgrades.

Transit and Aviation Programs See Less Funding While Highway Gets Boost

The Subcommittee marked the transit program at $7.2 billion, which is $16 million less than FY04 and within the transit account, the New Starts Program is reduced by $300 million. The New Starts Program is already severely backlogged with cities seeking resources to build new light and heavy rail transit projects.

At $13.5 billion the Federal Aviatioin Administration (FAA) would receive a reduction of 3.6 percent from FY04. At $34.6 billion, Highway spending would increase by nearly $1 billion over the Administration's request.

As U.S.MAYOR goes to print, the full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the Transportation-Treasury bill on July 23rd. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee has not yet scheduled its version of the bill.