Eno Transportation Weekly

December 14, 2018 – Funding for federal agencies supported by seven of the twelve annual appropriations bills expires one week from tonight, and there is no immediately obvious path towards averting a government shutdown beginning at midnight on Friday, December 21. Agreement on six of the seven pending appropriations bills is at hand, but a major partisan dispute on funding a U.S.-Mexico border wall in the Homeland Security bill prevents overall agreement.

December 7, 2018 – In a work week truncated by the funeral ceremonies for former President George H.W. Bush, both chambers of Congress yesterday passed, by unanimous consent, a joint resolution extending the stopgap appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2019 by two weeks – from midnight tonight, to midnight on Friday, December 21.

December 3., 2018 – 7:00 p.m. – Although the Presidential funeral has upended the legislative schedule, news was made on Capitol Hill on the appropriations front and on the autonomous vehicle bill this evening.

November 30, 2018 – Funding for many federal agencies runs out one week from tonight at midnight, and negotiators made little progress this week on the big issue in disagreement, funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

October 12, 2018 – The Federal Highway Administration has given state DOTs $6.6 billion in highway funding through December 7 under the fiscal 2019 continuing resolution.

October 4, 2018 – This is the first week of the fiscal new year, and for the first time in decades, the federal government started the fiscal year with more than half of its annual discretionary appropriations already signed into law. 

October 4, 2018 – On the first day of the new fiscal year, the Federal Highway Administration issued a formal notice apportioning $42.3 billion in highway formula contract authority to state governments.

The Eno Center for Transportation on September 26 released a new study, The Implications of the Federal Ban on Chinese Railcars.

September 28, 2018 – Congress has cleared a nine-week continuing resolution to fund parts of the federal government from October 1 through December 7, and President Trump must sign it by midnight Sunday night in order to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government on Monday morning. While the president has said he won’t shut the government down, at this point, his mercurial nature has led Congressional leaders not to rest easy until his pen actually completes his signature on the paper.

September 21, 2018 – Hopes that another four-bill package of appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2019, including the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill, could be signed into law before the elections are fading, despite more meetings of Appropriations Committee staffers to be held next week.

September 14, 2018 – House and Senate negotiators on a package of four fiscal 2019 appropriations bills, including the Transportation-HUD bill, met yesterday but were unable to complete negotiations, citing numerous policy provisions still in disagreement. It now appears likely that Department of Transportation programs will be funded starting October 1 by a short-term continuing resolution (introduced yesterday), at least for a while.

September 13, 2018 – The House and Senate have passed the final conference report version of the first three-bill “minibus” package of fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills, including the Energy and Water Development bill. The package appropriates $7.0 billion for the water resources program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, $172 million more than last year and $72 million more than the Senate bill (but $279 million less than the House bill).

September 6, 2018 – Congressional negotiators continue to make progress on the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills – progress that would have been just an average budget cycle in the 1980s or 1990s but which is positively spectacular in this dysfunctional age.

August 3, 2018 – The U.S. Senate this week passed a package of four appropriations bills for fiscal year 2019, including the annual Transportation-HUD bill. The package, which passed by a roll call vote of 92 to 6, provides $154 billion in discretionary funding, $130 billion in mandatory funding and $60 billion in obligation limitations on transportation contract authority.

August 1, 2018 – Last night, the U.S. Senate agreed to a one-year ban on any new procurements of mass transit rail cars or buses from companies owned or subsidized by the government of the People’s Republic of China, if the procurement uses any Federal Transit Administration formula funding.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018 – 8:40 p.m. – The U.S. Senate has reached an agreement that will ensure several amendment votes and a final passage vote tomorrow on the four-bill “minibus” appropriations measure for fiscal 2019 (H.R. 6147), which includes the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill.

July 27 2018 – This week, the House passed a mammoth defense bill that contains legislative provisions relating to civilian transit, rail, aviation and maritime transportation programs.

July 27, 2018 – A deal on amendments to the four-bill “minibus” appropriations package that includes the Transportation-HUD bill proved elusive yesterday, and Senators left town for the weekend pledging to finish consideration of the bill next week.

July 27, 2018 – The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2018 Homeland Security appropriations bill this week, the last of the twelve FY19 bills to be considered in committee in either the House or Senate.

Summary and status of all transportation-related amendments filed to the Senate version of the FY 2019 Transportation Appropriations Act during the week of July 23, 2018.