The House Appropriations Committee just released the details of its FY19 Transportation and Housing (THUD) Appropriations bill. The bill provides $16.5 billion for public transportation and intercity passenger rail, including $13.6 billion for public transportation and $2.9 billion for intercity passenger rail. The total FY 2019 public transportation and intercity passenger rail funding levels are $203 million more than the investments provided earlier this year and $2.5 billion more than provided in FY 2017.
The Full Committee on Appropriations is likely to consider this bill next week. In addition, the Senate Committee on Appropriations is expected to begin the process of considering its THUD Appropriations bill in early June. As transit proponents, now is the time to weigh in with your Congressional representatives. The key is to maintain these levels through the House Amendment process and in the Senate version of the bill.
The House bill provides $13.6 billion for public transportation, including both formula and competitive grants administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This funding level is $141 million more than FY 2018 funding levels and $1.1 billion more than authorized by the FAST Act for FY 2019.
Similar to the 2018 THUD Appropriations Act, the bill provides additional funding above the FAST Act’s FY 2019 authorized levels for several transit areas, including:
| FTA Bus Program | FY19 Increase | Total FY19 | ||
| Bus and Bus Facility Discretionary Grant Program (5339b) | $300 million | $572.1 million | ||
| Urbanized Formula Program (5307) | $150 million | $4.977 billion | ||
| Rural Formula Grant Program (5311) | $50 million | $709.3 million | ||
| Low/No Emissions Competitive Grant Program (5339c) | $50 million | $100 million | ||
| Total | $550 million |