From: "Friends of Transit" To: Subject: Federal Transit FY2005 appropriations approved by Congress Date: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 11:20 PM American Public Transportation Association Telephone: (202) 496-4800 1666 K Street, N.W. Fax: (202) 496-4322 Washington, DC 20006 E-mail: govt@apta.com www.apta.com Legislative Alert November 22, 2004 Lame Duck Session Ends - Transit Funding Up 5.2 Percent! Good News! Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Act (H.R. 4818) on Saturday night by a vote of 60-35 in the Senate and 344-51 in the House. The measure combines nine pending FY 2005 appropriations bills, including the Transportation-Treasury bill. The bill initially provided $7.708 billion in funding for the federal transit program but funding for all nine appropriations bills was reduced by a .83 percent across-the-board cut. The final total for transit in FY 2005 is thus $7.644 billion, an increase of $378 million or 5.2 percent over last year. This increase for transit comes despite the omnibus bill containing the "lowest increase (in overall funding) in a decade," according to Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN). Until the bill is signed by the President, which is expected soon, transit programs will continue to be funded under a short-term Continuing Resolution that expires on December 3. The Conference Report (House Report 108-792) is now available on the House Rules Committee website at http://www.house.gov/rules/h4818divh.pdf . APTA will provide more detailed information on new starts, bus, and JARC earmarks soon. The following figures for the major transit programs are a preliminary analysis of available information: Program FY 2004 Appropriation (Millions) FY 2005 Appropriation (Milions) Change FY 2004 to FY 2005 (Percent) Total All Programs 7,265.88 7,644.02 5.2% Formula Total 3,816.35 3,998.71 4.8% Capital Investment 3,138.87 3,311.11 5.5% New Starts 1,315.98 1,437.39 9.2% Fixed-Guideway Modernization 1,199.39 1,204.32 4% Bus and Bus Facilities 623.50 669.40 7.4% Planning & Research 125.26 126.94 1.3% Job Access and Reverse Commute 104.38 123.96 18.8% University Centers 5.96 5.95 -.001% FTA Operations 75.05 77.35 3.1% In addition to the transit program funding, the omnibus bill provides $34.35 billion for the federal highway program and $1.426 billion for the Federal Railroad Administration, including $1.207 billion for Amtrak; $19.3 million is provided for Next Generation High Speed rail, including $3.1 million for high-speed rail corridor planning, and $2 million for Maglev (all of these figures are after the 83 percent cut). The omnibus appropriations bill does not appear to modify committee report language that accompanied both the House-passed and Senate Committee-passed bills pertaining to a number of topics. For specifics on the report language, please see the APTA Legislative Updates from September 24 (Senate) and July 23 (House) on the Government Affairs section of www.apta.com . The bill expands authorization allowing cooperative procurement of major capital equipment to five pilot projects from the current three, as proposed in the Senate. There appears to be no change in the Senate report language calling for a report by the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Inspector General on the transit bus procurement process, or in the House report language regarding new starts evaluation criteria. Please check the Government Affairs section of www.apta.com for further updates on the omnibus bill as information becomes available. For more information on the appropriations process, please contact Rob Healy at (202) 496-4811 or rhealy@apta.com . _____ To unsubscribe, please Click Here