The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has said that it is allocating $742.5 million in economic-stimulus funds to speed construction of 11 transit projects in nine states. The DOT plan, announced on May 7, distributes funds to projects for which the Federal Transit Administration has multi-year, full-funding grant agreements. The aid, contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, doesn't represent an increase in DOT's total funds for the projects, but gets anticipated federal money to the transit agencies sooner than expected and allows work to proceed more rapidly. The ARRA measure provides a total of $8.4 billion for FTA capital
The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development on May 5 announced how it will divide $980 million that the economic-stimulus legislation--the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--provided for Community Development Block Grants. The CDBG aid will be split among about 1,200 state, city and county governments. Related Links: Notice of HUD Program Requirements CDBGs, established in 1974, can be used for many different purposes. Over the program's history, the most popular uses have been affordable-housing rehabilitation and upgrades to infrastructure such as streets, sewers and community centers. But for the stimulus CDBGs, HUD says in a May 5 technical guidance document
First it was President Obama, the bearer of economic stimulus gifts. Now it’s Obama the budget-cutter. Related Links: Proposed Cuts As part of his budget request for the next fiscal year, the President has proposed terminating or trimming back 121 federal programs, which officials say would save an estimated $16.7 billion in 2010. By ENR's estimate, $1.5 billion of the terminations and reductions, outlined by administration officials on May 6, are in construction programs at agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy and Transportation departments. The administration also is proposing to reduce the
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has put a “hold” on the nomination of Regina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation. The Environment and Public Works Com- mittee cleared McCarthy’s nomi- nation on April 23, but Barrasso is concerned about her support for EPA’s recent finding that greenhouse gases may pose a public-health danger. The action blocks a floor vote on McCarthy.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) has added funds for Dept. of Defense hospitals to a 2009 supplemental spending bill. The $94.2-billion measure, which Obey’s panel was to take up on May 7, includes $3.2 billion for military construction, $900 million more than the White House sought. Obey says most of the boost is for hospital projects. The $3.2 billion also includes the $263 million that the White House requested to speed up hospital projects in Bethesda, Md., and Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Under DOD’s base-closure plans, those facilities would replace the current Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Early congressional reviews of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act activity in core transportation sectors give agencies generally good marks, but lawmakers plan to keep a keen eye on stimulus spending as the flow increases. At recent House and Senate hearings, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said highway and transit sectors are showing the most progress. He also shed light on two big programs for which DOT hasn’t committed any money yet: $8 billion for high-speed rail and $1.5 billion for unspecified major projects. LaHood praised California’s rail plans and wants to fund work in several other corridors. He also said he’d
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) says he plans to soon unveil a new, multiyear surface transportation bill and predicts that it will move to the House floor in early June. Oberstar declined to disclose the amount of funding that the measure would authorize. An April 24 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials-American Public Transportation Association report says highway capital spending by all government levels needs to reach $132 billion to $166 billion a year by 2015, depending on traffic growth. That compares with $78.7 billion spent in 2006. The report pegs annual transit capital
An early congressional review of economic-stimulus activity in core infrastructure sectors gives generally good marks for federal and state agencies' progress so far. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on April 29 held the first of a planned series of hearings on the stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It focused only on programs under the panel's jurisdiction, but they include such key sectors as highways, rail and Environmental Protection Agency water programs. Office of Rep. James Oberstar Rep. James Oberstar Related Links: State-by-State Stimulus Breakdown By Category and Status Prepared Statements by Witnesses As of March 31, the
After weeks of preparation, the Army Corps of Engineers has released its detailed plan of how it plans to spend the $4.6 billion the economic-stimulus measure provides for its civil-works program. The legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, split the money into six categories. The largest shares are $2.1 billion for the Corps operations-and-maintenance account and $2 billion for the construction program. The new Corps list, released on April 28, covers 1,191 projects, including 892 operation- and-maintenance items and 178 in the construction account. “I’m very encouraged by what I see,” says John Doyle, Waterways Council Inc. vice president
The Interior Dept. is maintaining its aggressive pace in committing economic-stimulus funds for construction and maintenance projects around the country. Interior’s National Park Service on April 22 released a $750-million list of projects to be funded under the stimulus measure, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The roster contains 766 projects, including work on a wide range of buildings, monuments, trails and water and sewer lines. Plan includes $30.5 million for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar followed up the park news on April 25 by rolling out the $500-million stimulus plan for the Bureau
