In a flurry of summer legislative activity, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved 11 of the 12 spending bills on its fiscal year 2025 backlog, each of which funds one or more federal departments or agencies.
The group of 11 bills includes funding for nearly every major construction and infrastructure program. For key categories like roads, transit, clean water and drinking water, industry and state officials like what they see in the Senate panel’s spending measures.
State transportation departments were also pleased that the US DOT funding bill includes a possible “fix” to a troublesome highway funding problem, but the measure’s language on the issue likely won’t be l ‘last word of the Senate on the subject.
Infrastructure advocates generally praise Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and the panel’s top Republican, Susan Collins (R-Maine), for working together to get bills are approved unanimously or by wide bipartisan margins.
During the Senate panel’s July 25 voting session on several spending measures, including funding DOT, Murray said, “We are moving forward with strong bipartisan bills that can be passed and signed into law.”
Sean O’Neil, senior vice president of the Portland Cement Association, says the Senate committee’s bipartisan approach also is an indicator of where [funding levels] may end eventually, if and when we have a full funding bill.”
The across-the-aisle approach offers a stark contrast to the House Appropriations Committee, which had previously approved all 12 of the 2025 bills, but along party lines and with partisan disagreements.
Both committees are synchronized, however, on some key DOT programs. Both committees’ bills recommend $61.3 billion for the federal-aid highway obligation cap, consistent with the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act (IIJA) level and an increase of 2% compared to the level enacted this year.
Likewise, both bills adhere to Tier IIJA for transit formula funds, recommending $14.3 billion, a 2% increase over this year.
In addition, the House and Senate measures recommend $4 billion in 2025 for Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grants, a 19 percent increase over 2024. The grants are supported of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
The Senate panel’s numbers for other transportation budget bills are far apart. For example, the Senate committee is proposing $345 million for DOT’s popular RAISE grant program, a 59 percent increase over this year’s enacted level.
But the House appropriators removed RAISE, which stands for Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity.
The House panel cut FTA capital investment grants by 66% to $755 million. But the Senate committee approved a 3% increase.
August road funding change
The American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) was also pleased to see that the Senate DOT bill includes a provision that aims to address a problematic state DOTs have had in recent years with the annual redistribution of certain types of August of the Federal Highway Administration. of the unspent highway funds.
When August rolls around, the Federal Highway Administration reallocates unobligated funds to states that can use the aid, but states have regularly had to scramble to obligate the reallocated funds within just 30 days.
Jim Tymon, executive director of AASHTO, said in a statement, “This bill’s solution should reduce the amount of funding subject to the August reapportionment and provide more state formula money at the beginning of the fiscal year, allowing states to properly plan projects to better serve the needs of their communities.
But the language in the Senate appropriations bill dealing with August redistricting may not be the final word on the matter.
During the committee’s July 25 voting session, panel member Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.) told the committee’s voting session that the FY 2025 spending bill called the provision is “a Band-Aid”, adding that he is working on a legislative project. exchange.
Additionally, Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he would work with Capito and other senators on the issue. “This is a real problem,” Schatz said.
He added with all the new transportation projects and programs under the IIJA, “We’re having some difficulty actually deploying the resources that we appropriated. And that’s not an imaginary problem.”
In another infrastructure category, the Environmental Protection Agency’s water infrastructure program, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the EPA/Dept. of spending bill House on July 25 by a bipartisan vote of 28 to 1. Maintains 2025 funding for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) program at $2.76 billion, the same level enacted in 2024. Also increases funding for the Superfund program by $546 million over this year’s enacted levels.
Mae Stevens, CEO of The American Business Water Coalition, praised the Senate for maintaining SRF funding levels and avoiding cuts, but added that “much work remains to be done to close the extreme funding gap water infrastructure of our country.
Stevens said in a statement that, according to the American Water Works Association, it will take at least $1 trillion over 25 years to restore water systems to meet public needs and regulations.
Among other construction programs, the House and Senate committees would more than double the Department of Veterans Affairs’ major construction projects to more than $2 billion.
House panel recommends 14% increase for military construction; the senate committee is asking for a 6% increase.
Even with the committee’s move on the 2025 spending measures, there is little time left before the Sept. 30 end of fiscal year 2024 and a potential government shutdown. Uncertainties surrounding the November election also mean it will likely revert to an interim continuing resolution, or CR, to keep federal agencies open, including their construction programs.
O’Neill says a CR extending beyond November 5 is likely. “That’s the kind of path we’re on,” he says.
