TRANSFER
March 13, 2001
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 5
Surface Transportation Policy Project
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Bush Administration Requests Funding for Highways and Transit
On 2/28, the Bush Administration sent a $1.96 trillion budget to Congress
for FY 2002. The budget proposal would spend $32.3 billion for highways,
$6.7 billion for transit and $13.3 billion for aviation--a total of $52.4
billion. The proposal would increase federal funding by $2.1 billion above
the 2001 level for highways and by $486 million for transit. The highway
funding level includes $145 million for the President's New Freedom
Initiative to develop transportation alternatives for the disabled and to
increase research and development funding to support congestion reduction
technology initiatives. Although the original transportation budget
submitted by the White House funded transportation at levels less than
authorized in TEA-21, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don
Young (R-AK) and Ranking Member James Oberstar (D-MN) negotiated with
Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to restore transportation funding at
TEA-21 levels and to increase it by 3% over the current $51 billion.
President Bush also requested tax incentives and regulatory reform to aid
in the cleanup of brownfields and $4.9 billion over five years for the
National Park Service, with $ 2.7 billion of that for maintenance of roads,
bridges and transportation projects and $ 2.2 billion for building
maintenance and construction. In addition, the budget includes a 3% cut in
programs for energy efficiency and research and development for renewable
energy while assuming $1.2 billion a year in future revenues from oil
leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska beginning in 2004.
The budget is structured around a $1.6 trillion tax cut over the next 10
years.
For more information on the FY2002 budget proposal, visit
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/.