Budget Agreement Favorable to Transportation Investment

House and Senate conferees came to a formal agreement on the FY 2010 Congressional budget resolution yesterday after negotiating a number of contentious provisions. The agreement adopts the more favorable House projections on available budgetary baseline for the highway and transit programs. This is an important initial step in the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization effort. The budget resolution sets the parameters governing spending decisions by Congress this year. It has particular impact on the highway and transit programs because SAFETEA-LU expires on September 30, 2009 and the amount of funding that can be included in the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization legislation is impacted by the budget resolution. Other provisions in the resolution are favorable to transportation as well, including a reserve fund provision allowing for additional highway and transit funding above the amount set in the resolution if new legislation is enacted that provides additional revenue. A proposal from the Obama Administration to use the resolution to change the budget treatment of the Highway Trust Fund was rejected. Final action on the compromise resolution is expected in both the House and Senate by the end of the week. AGC and our coalition partners - the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) -were in contact with House and Senate budget Committee members as well as other Senators and Representatives urging support of the House language.