Senate Advances Transportation Appropriations Bill

On Thursday, October 31, the Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bill, thereby funding the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development. The legislation includes a total of $86.6 billion for DOT, a $167 million increase from FY2019, as well as $1 billion for BUILD Grants (formerly TIGER Grants) and full FAST Act funding. You can read a full summary of the bill here.

NRMCA drafted and sent on behalf of the North American Concrete Alliance a letter supporting two specific amendments: the Barrasso Amendment, which prevented the clawing back of $7.6 billion in highway funds and the McSally-Jones Amendment, which stopped an automatic $1.2 billion cut to mass transit programs. NRMCA also joined the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) in sending a letter in support of these amendments and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in sending a letter specifically addressing the $1.2 billion in cuts to mass transit. You can read the NACA letter here, the TCC letter here, and the APTA letter here.

The rescission of $7.6 billion in unspent highway funds – which takes place automatically on July 1, 2020 – is a priority for NRMCA. The NRMCA Government Affairs team is in regular contact with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which is leading the broad effort to find a fix for the rescission. NRMCA joined AASHTO, NSSGA and PCA in asking Congress to prevent these clawbacks (see that letter here).

For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.