House panel rejects cuts

According to NSSGA, at a hearing last week, members of the House Transportation and Housing and Urban Affairs Appropriations subcommittee soundly rejected administration proposals to cut spending for transit programs and RABA (Revenue Aligned Budget Authority—the mechanism by which revenues flowing into the federal Highway Trust Fund are aligned with revenues flowing out). The cut has been cast as an attempt to keep federal spending to a 1 percent growth rate across the department, and hard choices were necessary to accommodate this goal. Further, administration witnesses also cast the RABA cut as an attempt to protect the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) from insolvency. Subcommittee chairman Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.) noted that appropriators are mandated to meet the spending allotments set by the SAFETEA-LU, otherwise the spending bills will be subject to a "point of order" on the House floor. A point of order could force the bill to be sent back to the committee and ordered to comply with spending guarantees included in SAFETEA-LU before it could be brought back to the House for consideration. Olver disapproved of the cuts to transit programs because they disproportionately hit the New Starts program, which supports fixed guideway transit systems like commuter rail. Olver also objected to eliminating RABA funding in FY ‘08 and reprogramming $175 million from prior transportation authorization bills to fund the department’s congestion initiative. If tax receipts into the HTF are above projections, RABA kicks in and one-half of the funds are mandated to be allocated during the next fiscal year. The level of RABA for 2008 is $631 million. Your comment?