Senate appropriations committee moves to fully restore highway funding

摘要

Just one day after the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee moved by voice vote to restore highway funding for FY 2003 to the 31.8 billion dollars funding level of FY 2002, the fall Senate Appropriations Committee reaffirmed the 31.8 billion dollars in highway funds without debate. The fall Senate has yet to act on this measure, but is expected to do so before the House addresses transportation appropriations issues.Approval by the Senate Appropriations Committee of a 64.4 billion dollars package to fund the Department of Transportation included 4.1 billion dollars above the TEA 21 baseline of 27.7 billion dollars for highway spending in FY 2003. If enacted into law, this results in a complete restoration of the 8.6 billion dollars cut contained in the Bush administration's proposed budget for FY 2003 that resulted from a negative Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) due to increased ethanol sales and lower truck and diesel fuel sales.