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The political winds on Capitol Hill have changed significantly in the year since APTA members came to Washington for the 2010 Legislative Conference. At this critical juncture, therefore, it is essential for APTA members to demonstrate to their federal representatives the benefits that public transportation brings to their districts, so those representatives can also become transit advocates as the political battles continue over the budget and appropriations processes.
 So far this year, Congress has dedicated most of its time to completing the federal budget for the current fiscal year, 2011. Because no compromise has been reached on federal appropriations for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, which ends Sept. 30, Congress is operating under a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires March 18.
At the same time, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which authorizes funds for surface transportation programs, has been extended for a seventh time through the end of the fiscal year. It is the hope that this seven-month extension will give Congress time to negotiate and pass a new authorization law.
Amid concerns about the growing size of the federal deficit, new members of the 112th Congress ran on a platform of cutting government spending, balancing the budget, and eliminating earmarks. President Obama has agreed with the initiative to eliminate earmarks and has pledged to veto any legislation that contains them.
To meet the Republican pledge to present a budget $100 billion lower than the administration’s FY 2011 request, the House passed H.R. 1, a continuing resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year that contained $7.87 billion in cuts from DOT compared to FY 2010 enacted levels and rescinded $3.752 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for transportation programs. However, these funding levels were unacceptable to Senate Democrats.
It remains to be seen how the House and Senate will compromise on spending cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year. If no compromise on the remainder of the fiscal year is reached by March 18, Congress may pass another short-term extension to keep the federal government operating.
The current CR reduces discretionary spending by $4 billion, which meets the Republican goal of cutting spending by $2 billion per week to meet its $100 billion goal. This was done by making cuts to programs that President Obama had already suggested eliminating in the FY 2012 budget, as well as terminating in FY 2011 some of the earmarks made available in FY 2010. While transit was not affected in the most recent round of cuts, it is a possibility in future negotiations.
Last month, the president unveiled his budget request for FY 2012, which contained steep cuts in discretionary government spending. However, transportation programs were among the few to see an increase in funding under the administration’s proposal. As part of the campaign to “win the future,” infrastructure is included with education and innovation as one of the sectors with increased federal investment.
The president’s budget proposal contained a six-year authorization proposal of $556 billion for surface transportation, which would more than double transit investment from FY 2010 enacted levels during the first year. It would bring public transportation’s share of funding over the six years in line with APTA’s recommendations of $123 billion in its authorization recommendations.
The administration’s proposal includes renaming the Highway Trust Fund to the Transportation Trust Fund with subaccounts for highways, mass transit, high-speed rail, and a national infrastructure bank. The proposal did not include a revenue source for high-speed rail and the infrastructure bank, but stated that the administration plans to work with Congress to develop a revenue solution. The budget request also explicitly stated that the revenue source for highways and transit would remain unchanged; however, increasing the gas tax was not included in the president’s proposal.
Another key policy change reclassifies surface transportation spending as mandatory and subject to Congressional PAYGO provisions to ensure that spending is limited to actual revenues generated. This allows the president to state that his transportation proposal is deficit neutral. If it is enacted, all federal public transportation programs would be funded by the Transportation Trust Fund (with the exception of grants to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority). Currently, approximately 20 percent of public transportation funds come from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury.
This reclassification of funds for surface transportation programs would result in the restoration of the guarantees that funds are to be made available at authorized levels on a year-to-year basis.
APTA members have a great deal of important work to do over the next week in Washington to support the president’s proposal for increased investment in public transportation and the need for the certainty a long-term authorization brings to the industry and the public. |
