On July 30, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted by a 30-0 margin to approve the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010.  The bill includes $11.1 billion for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) programs—a funding level more than $750 million higher than the $10.33 billion in the president’s budget request.

The bill also includes:

* $480 million more for New Starts than the $1.827 billion requested in the president’s budget and the House-approved funding level. It also is an increase of $500 million above FY 2009 levels;
* $150 million authorized for grants to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; and
* $100 million for transit energy efficiency grants, similar to those in the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction program funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In addition to the increased funding for FTA, the bill includes:
*  $1.1 billion for grants to support multimodal transportation projects, including public transportation, highways, bridges, passenger and freight rail, and ports;
* $1.2 billion for intercity and high speed rail, building on the funds included in ARRA; the House bill had included a maximum of $4 billion;
* $1.5 billion for Amtrak;
* $50 million for grants to invest in railroad safety technology, including positive train control;
* $150 million for the Sustainable Communities Initiative in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and
* Federal Highway Administration programs receive $43.5 billion, including $1.4 billion in General Fund appropriations, versus $42 billion in the House bill.

The full Senate will take up this bill either next week (before the August recess) or when Congress reconvenes in September.

The full House approved the THUD appropriations bill on July 23.

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