Spending Bill has $106B for Transportation

An omnibus budget bill working its way through Congress contains $106 billion in federal transportation funding for fiscal year 2023, which began on Oct. 1.

The $1.7 trillion spending bill was approved by the Senate on Thursday with House approval expected to come on Friday.

The transportation budget includes increased funding for Amtrak and public transit agencies.

Amtrak is to receive $2.45 billion, which is $121.6 million above what the passenger carrier was granted in fiscal year 2022.

However, it also is short of the $3 billion requested by the Biden Administration and less than the $3.3 billion requested by Amtrak.

The Amtrak funding breaks down to $1.26 billion for the Northeast Corridor and $1.19 billion for the national network.

The legislation says that up to $66 million can be used to support planning, capital costs, and operating assistance for projects included in the Corridor Identification Program.

The latter is a program stemming from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  That money can be used to develop new intercity rail passenger routes and/or to improve service on existing passenger rail routes.

An analysis published on the website of the Rail Passengers Association said that Amtrak may face a squeeze from trying to do too much with the funding provided for the national network.

RPA noted that the passenger carrier is having a difficult time getting all of its pre-pandemic service back in service as well as hiring additional personnel. That might not leave much funding to develop new services.

Congress also banned Amtrak from using its operating grant to discontinue, reduce the frequency of, suspend, or substantially alter the route of any long-distance route except in the case of an emergency or a planned maintenance outage.

The Federal Railroad Administration will receive $1.05 billion. That is broken down to $44 million for railroad research and development; $100 million for the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Rail grant program; and $560 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program.

The legislation specifies that at least $150 million in CRISI grants shall be used for development of new passenger rail corridors.

Other FRA spending earmarks included $25 million for the development and implementation of measures to prevent trespassing; $5 million for maglev; $30.4 million for Congressionally directed spending; and $5 million for workforce development training.

The Federal Transit Administration was allocated $16 billion of which $13.6 billion is to be used for Transit Formula Grants to address transit state of good repair; and $2.6 billion for Capital Investment Grants to create new transit routes nationwide.

The latter is a $387 million increase above fiscal year 2022 funding.

CRISI grants may be used to fund commuter rail projects, authorizing the transfer of funds by the USDOT to the appropriate agencies to be administered under public transportation laws.

Federal Transportation Spending to Continue Through December 16

Federal transportation funding will continue through Dec. 16 after Congress passed a short-term budget extension.

The action was needed because Congress has not yet approved budgets for federal fiscal year 2023, which begins Oct. 1.

Also known as a continuing resolution, the extension continues funding Amtrak and other transportation programs at existing levels.

It is common for Congress to be unable to agree on budget bills by the Sept. 30 deadline. In some instances, federal funding has continued through a series of continuing resolutions.

Senate Bill Would Increase Amtrak Funding

A Senate committee last week released a proposed federal fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill for transportation spending, including Amtrak funding.

The passenger carrier would receive $2.6 billion, a $269 million increase over the current fiscal year.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is proposing $2.51 billion for the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants program; $200 million for the Federal-State Partnership for State-of-Good-Repair for the replacement, rehabilitation, and repair of intercity passenger rail infrastructure; and $535 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement program.

The Senate proposal provides higher Amtrak funding levels than a recently approved House budget bill but would grant $355 million less than what the House approved for the federal-state partnership program.

Whereas the House approved $882 million for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the Senate bill contains $1,135,000. The House approved $1,463,000 for Amtrak’s network whereas the Senate bill would appropriate $,465,000.

Neither the House budget bill nor the Senate proposal contains any funding for passenger rail restoration and enhancement grants. Both chambers also omitted funding for railroad grade crossing elimination projects.

Both programs received no funding in FY2022 although the grade crossing program was authorized to receive up to $500 million and the restoration and enhancement program was authorized to receive $50 million.

In FY2022, Congress approved $875 million for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and $1,457,000 for the national network.

None of the spending bill amounts include money approved in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is allocated separately from annual appropriations.

In a related development, the proposed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced in the Senate omits funding for high-speed rail programs.

Earlier drafts of the bill contained $10 billion in dedicated funding for electrified high-speed rail.

The Rail Passengers Association noted in a report on its website that much of the focus in the energy bill is funding the transition to electric automobiles, which RPA described as “another in a long line of subsidies for highways.”

Biden Wants Increased Transportation Spending

The Biden administration has proposed increasing funding on railroad and public transit programs in federal fiscal year 2023 in a $5.79 trillion budget proposal.

The administration sent its budget recommendations to Congress this week.

Biden proposed spending $105 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation with another $37 billion in advance appropriations provided for by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The budget calls for $4.66 billion for the Federal Railroad Administration. The agency received $2.86 billion in the past two fiscal years.

Amtrak would get $3 billion, including $1.8 billion for the national network and $1.2 billion for the Northeast Corridor.

The Federal Transit Administration would receive $16.87 billion, which includes $300 million for rail car replacement.

Some funding in the proposed FTA budget would cover work on the Portal North Bridge replacement project in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, and $100 for engineering work on the Hudson Tunnels project between New York City and New Jersey.

Other notable transportation funding includes $2.85 billion for Capital Investment Grants, $500 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants, $555 million for the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program, $245 million for the Railroad Crossing Elimination program, and $1.5 billion for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grants and the new National Infrastructure Project Assistance Grant program,

The figures for those programs do not include funding authorized by the infrastructure act approved last year. All funding proposals are subject to congressional approval.