House GOP plan cuts to Obama rail budget

OREANDA-NEWS. The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) budget would be cut by \\$262mn to \\$1.4bn as part of a Republican proposal in the House of Representatives to fund the Department of Transportation (DOT).

The GOPS's \\$55.3bn fiscal 2016 budget proposal for DOT from the House Appropriations Committee also sided with the trucking industry after heavy lobbying by proposing controversial expansions of truck-trailer length and driver hours that will increase that sector's competitiveness against railroads for shipper dollars.

The overall Republican proposal drew quick rebukes from minority Democrats who said it fails to adequately fund crucial transportation infrastructure and contains a number of policy riders.

Committee chairman Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky) said, "this bill invests in critical infrastructure programs that will keep our people and our businesses moving, and that will make our roads, rails and airways safe for all. … These are tight budget times, and this legislation makes the most out of each and every transportation and housing dollar."

The overall bill comes in at \\$9.7bn below President Barack Obama's budget request for transportation and housing, but \\$1.5bn above fiscal 2015 funding. It cuts \\$6.8bn from Obama's request for DOT, and reduces DOT's budget by \\$1bn below fiscal 2015 to \\$17.2bn for the current fiscal year. It cuts \\$161mn from the Federal Transit Administration's fiscal 2015 budget, to \\$10.7bn.

But the committee proposed increasing the budget of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Association by \\$6.9mn to \\$227mn, "to help address safety concerns including the transport of energy products."

The bill would change federal law so that states may not require truck-trailer combinations to be less than 33 feet long on most interstate highways, extending the current limit by five feet. It would extend a suspension of the "34-hour restart" rule for truck drivers until DOT can prove the rule has improved safety.

The bill includes \\$289mn for Amtrak operations that would continue service for all existing routes, as well as \\$850mn for capital grants for infrastructure but no funding for high-speed rail. It also limits overtime for Amtrak employees and prohibits federal funding for routes on which Amtrak offers a discount of 50pc or more over peak travel rates.

It proposes \\$226mn for rail safety and research programs, equal to the fiscal 2015 level, for rail inspectors and training. Also included is \\$6.5mn in funding for highway-rail crossing safety initiatives.

Senior committee member David Price (D-North Carolina) in a markup session this week complained that the Republican majority is using appropriations to achieve funding cuts, rather than other areas such as entitlements.

"Unfortunately the bill before us takes a giant step backward in addressing our infrastructure needs," Price said, invoking Republican President Dwight Eisenhower's launching of the interstate highway system in the 1950s

"We are not investing nearly what we should in our housing and transportation infrastructure," Price said. "We are not investing enough to sustain it, much less advance it."

The bill passed out of a House Appropriations subcommittee this week and a mark-up by the full committee is not scheduled.