Committee looks to "flat-line" current funding levels

The Senate Budget Committee has begun action on a proposed FY 2005 budget resolution that would establish federal spending guidelines for the next five years. While the budget resolution is not binding, it includes funding recommendations for many federal programs, including the highway and transit.

The proposal unveiled by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles (R-Okla.) recommends "flat-lining" federal highway and transit investment at the current funding levels ($33.6 billion for highways, $7.3 billion for transit) through FY 2009 as proposed by the Bush Administration. This proposal would be a total of $36 billion less than authorized in the bipartisan, six-year TEA-21 reauthorization bill (S. 1072), which overwhelmingly passed the Senate last month. Sen. Nickles and five other Committee members voted for an amendment during the floor debate on S. 1072 to scale the bill's investment levels back to the $256 billion proposed by the Bush Administration. That amendment was defeated 78-20.

The Budget Committee was expected to begin voting on amendments March 5, and it was unclear if an amendment will be offered to try to increase the measure's assumptions for federal transportation investment.