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Norton Gets Extra Transit, Road, and Bridge Funds for D.C. and the Nation in New Surface Transportation Bill Passed By House, Today

December 3, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, today spoke on the House floor before passage of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill. The FAST Act provides the District of Columbia with an additional $193.5 million in transit formula funding and an additional $75 million in highway formula funding over current funding.

In her floor remarks, Norton used D.C.'s H Street Bridge as a symbol of what the FAST Act will do for D.C. and other jurisdictions across the country, not only for transportation and infrastructure, but also for economic development. Norton got funds in the FAST Act that can be used for the H Street Bridge, which leads to every form of transportation. The DC Streetcar, both intercity and WMATA buses, cars, bikes, and pedestrians all use H Street Bridge. The bridge also leads to Metrorail, Amtrak, MARC, VRE, and freight, as well as to federal highways I-395 and Route 50. For the first time, the FAST Act provides major funding for freight, and also includes new funds for improvements in the Northeast corridor for passenger rail and freight nationwide. Norton said this long-term bill will allow for planning of the major expansion of Union Station to proceed, including for major economic development above the track.

The FAST Act had bipartisan and bicameral support and was the product of months of negotiation by Norton and other leaders of the Conference Committee. At $281 billion from the Highway Trust Fund, the bill provides nearly $13 billion more than the original House-passed bill. The bill also includes $24 billion from the General Fund for Transit New Starts, Amtrak, and intercity passenger rail grants. The increase resulted from a request by Norton and several other Conferees to reduce the authorization's duration from six years to five years. Norton said that tradeoff was unfortunate considering that the FAST Act is the first long-term surface transportation authorization in 10 years. However, Norton said that reducing the duration of the authorization was the only way to get increased funding for states and D.C., which are starving for new funds, from the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

"I thank my partners in this bill, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Schuster (R-PA), Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) for engaging in a truly bipartisan process," said Norton. "Because of a willingness of all concerned to compromise, the FAST Act got over the finish line. The FAST Act maintains my priorities, as well as those of my colleagues. However, the use of gimmicks to pay for the bill, such as selling oil from our Strategic Oil Reserve at an estimated rate that is double the current market value for oil, only points up the urgent necessity of developing new mechanisms for funding the Highway Trust Fund. The Highway Trust Fund has become a funding source for this bill in name only. I was glad to see my priority for $20 million to promote experimental pilots for funding the Highway Trust Fund, such as the use of vehicle miles to replace the gas tax, is included in the FAST Act. I am also very pleased that our Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is reauthorized and that there is $7.5 million in grants for the states to gather data on racial profiling."

Below are some of Norton's priorities included in the FAST Act:

Five Years of Increased Funding

During Conference negotiations, Norton asked for a five-year authorization instead of the House-passed six-year authorization in order to boost the authorized funding out of the Highway Trust Fund by $12.8 billion annually. While this increased funding will not meet all infrastructure needs, every state and congressional district will benefit from an increase in funding.

Transit Safety

Norton added to her Protect Riders of Metrorail Public Transportation (PROMPT) Act, which provides direct federal safety oversight over the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail, and was previously included, by clarifying that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary has authority to assume direct federal safety oversight in place of any State Safety Oversight Agency. Norton hopes this provision will help stem the loss of riders to Metro while D.C., Maryland, and Virginia develop a regional safety committee. The bill also clarifies that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) can set minimum safety standards for transit systems, requires a safety review on emergency preparedness, design, maintenance and inspections of critical systems, and includes certification requirements for train and bus operators. The bill requires FTA to study the issue of restroom breaks for transit rail and bus drivers and, based on the study's results, to draft rules to address the issue.

Amtrak Funding

The FAST Act authorizes $8 billion over five years for Amtrak, which is $2 billion more than the House had previously included. The bill also dedicates $3 billion of these Amtrak funds to the Northeast Corridor.

Racial Profiling

The FAST Act provides $7.5 million in annual grant funding for states to collect data on racial profiling.

Disadvantaged Businesses Enterprise Program

The bill provides a clean reauthorization of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. The program ensures minority-owned and women-owned businesses are able to fairly compete for DOT contracts.

Buy America

The bill increases the Buy America requirements to 70 percent for transit projects and maintains 100 percent Buy America requirements for rail projects.

TIFIA Eligibility Expansion

The bill makes transit-oriented development (TOD) eligible for Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans and loan guarantees.

Federal Lands Transportation Program

The FAST Act provides $375 million annually by fiscal year 2020 for the Federal Lands Transportation Program, which includes the National Park Service (NPS), of importance to D.C. because so many roads here go through federal park land. The bill also authorizes $100 million per year for a Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal projects grant program. The Arlington Memorial Bridge, which is owned by the NPS and must be rebuilt, would qualify for this new program.

Freight

The bill creates a new $6.3 billion freight formula program for states and D.C. and a new $4.5 billion Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects competitive grant program.

Bicycle/Pedestrian Projects and Safety

The bill increases funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects and creates a new non-motorized safety grant to assist and incentivize states to reduce pedestrian and bicycle deaths.