House Passes FY 2009 Appropriations

The House this week approved an omnibus appropriation bill to fund government programs through the remainder of FY 2009. The 110^th Congress was unable to complete action last year on most of the FY 2009 appropriations bills and instead passed a stopgap continuing resolution funding programs at 2008 levels through March 6, 2009. The omnibus bill funds the highway program at $40.7 billion the SAFETEA-LU authorized level. This is slightly less than FY 2008 because there was an additional $1 billion provided last year to address emergency bridge repairs. The transit program is increased to $10 billion, the authorized funding level, which is a 7 percent increase over 2008. The Airport Improvement grants remain at $3.515 billion, the same as 2008.