WASHINGTON -- Republicans controlling the House unveiled legislation Tuesday that proposes a cut to a transportation grant program championed by President Barack Obama that funds road and bridge projects, light-rail networks, port construction and bike paths.
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program dates from Obama's 2009 economic stimulus bill and was funded at $600 million this year. Obama wants to nearly double the program's budget, but the newly released spending bill covering federal transportation and housing programs offers the administration just $100 million, an 83 percent cut from current levels.
The $52 billion measure maintains funding for community development block grants popular with local governments and fully funds an upgrade to the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen air traffic control system. But it proposes cuts to Amtrak capital construction and slices $1.2 billion from Obama's request for housing subsidies for the poor.
The transportation and housing measure is the fourth of 12 spending bills revealed by House Republicans for the 2015 budget year that begins Oct. 1. Lawmakers are trying to get the annual appropriations process back on track after it ran aground last year before a December budget deal eased automatic cuts known as sequestration.
The legislation is free of earmarked spending, consistent with the GOP ban on such pet projects.
It contains language by Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, blocking construction of a light-rail line on Houston's Richmond Avenue; lifts weight limits for trucks traveling on interstate highways in Idaho, Wisconsin and Mississippi; and continues a $150 million subsidy for the Metro rail system in Washington, District of Columbia and its suburbs. California Republicans won tighter restrictions designed to block a high-speed rail project in the state, a project they believe would be a boondoggle.
It maintains a $149 million appropriation for a program that subsidizes air fares to rural airports. Amtrak capital grants would be cut by $200 million and employees of the passenger railroad would generally be limited to $35,000 a year in overtime.
The measure is part of the approximately $1 trillion portion of the federal budget that passes through Congress each year. The 2015 round of spending bills are essentially capped at current levels. But there's actually less than that because of a $4 billion difference of opinion between the Congressional Budget Office and the White House's Office of Management and Budget over how much revenue the government will reap next year from Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premiums.
This arcane dispute means that the transportation and housing measure faces a $1.8 billion cut in real terms, even though it appropriates $1.2 billion above current levels. That's a major reason driving the cuts to TIGER grants, which are likely to be reversed in end-game negotiations with the Senate and White House.
A House Appropriations subcommittee is expected to approve the measure today, and it faces a floor debate later this month.
Also Tuesday, the nation's military leaders told Congress they have raided every other pot of money they have in order to cut spending, and lawmakers must now slow the growth of personnel pay and benefits.
The military chiefs said their forces worry more about not having the best training and equipment. And they said the skyrocketing personnel costs are forcing them to cut the number of troops they have, and erode their ability to maintain forces ready for combat and provide necessary, modernized equipment.
Congress is debating the proposed $496 billion defense budget this week, and military pay is one of many sensitive issues within that bill.
Senators expressed reservations about slowing the increase in pay rates, and pressed the chiefs on other ways to trim spending. Several continued their opposition to the Pentagon's efforts to cut the A-10 aircraft, which provides close air support for combat troops.
The proposed retirement of the A-10 Thunderbolts has been a particular flash point for some senators, including those whose states house bases that are home to the aircraft.
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Tuesday of painful trade-offs as the nation's military pivots from a 13-year war footing and comes under enormous budgetary constraints, saying there will have to be cuts to military pay, aging weapons systems and the size of the armed forces.
Hagel made the comments in a speech in Chicago.
"Even as Congress has slashed our overall budget, they have so far proven unwilling to accept necessary reforms to curb growth in compensation costs and eliminate [the Department of Defense's] excess infrastructure and unneeded facilities," Hagel said.
Information for this article was contributed by Lolita C. Baldor and Jason Keyser of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/07/2014