Appropriations: House and Senate Appropriations Reports FY11 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Bill
On July 20, the House Appropriations Committee marked up its bill making FY 2011 appropriations for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. On July 21, 2010, the Senate Appropriations committee approved its FY 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Overall, the bill includes budget authority of $67.9 billion, unchanged from the 2010 enacted level.
Significant Items Include:
Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Sustainable Communities Initiative: $150 million within HUD’s Community Development Fund to promote integrated housing and transportation planning. [note: TIGER III]
Department of Transportation
- Livable Communities: $150 million within HUD and $527 million within DOT.
- Planning Capacity Grants: $200 million split evenly between the Federal Transit and Highway Administrations to help transportation planning agencies improve their models and better coordinate transportation and housing forecasts.
- Transit Energy Efficiency Grants: $100 million for grants to help transit agencies make cutting-edge and innovative capital investments that will reduce the energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions of their operations.
- $45.2 billion for highway infrastructure
- $11.3 billion to support bus and rail projects, including capital expenditures
- $250 million for transit operating assistance grants
- Passenger Rail Grant Program: $1.4 billion to expand and improve intercity passenger rail
- Amtrak: $1.77 billion to make capital investments including improvements to Amtrak’s fleet and upgrades to Amtrak stations to ensure they are accessible for the disabled. This increase above FY 2010 will save or create an additional 1,130 jobs, according to the Committee.
For more information, visit: http://appropriations.house.gov or http://www.appropriations.senate.gov