The Trump administration’s proposed budget for fiscal 2019 would leave cities and states on the hook for billions of dollars in spending on public transportation projects that are already underway.
The $4.4 trillion budget proposal rolled out this week would cut several grant programs funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), an office within the U.S. Department of Transportation that issues grants to localities in need of funding for massive transit projects they might not otherwise be able to afford.
The proposal comes at the same time the administration released a plan to spend about $200 billion on infrastructure projects.
The budget phases out the FTA’s Capital Improvement Grants (CIG) program over the course of a decade. It would fund the program only enough to close agreements already reached with state and local governments. At the same time, it would eliminate funding for projects that are competing for, but have yet to receive, grants under the FTA’s New Starts program.
It also proposes allocating only 5% of new funding for projects that have already been approved. Federal funding would be allowed to account for up to 20% of any individual project’s overall cost.
In addition to the grant programs that help fund local projects, the administration is also proposing to slash in half federal subsidies for Amtrak. The budget proposal calls on states to begin chipping in more for long distance routes the national passenger rail carrier operates.
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Source: The Hill
