Dive Brief:
- U.S. House and Senate appropriators agreed Tuesday on bipartisan legislation to fund transportation through the remainder of fiscal year 2026, which ends Sept. 30.
- The bill “provides the overwhelming majority of public transit and passenger rail investments” funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
- The House is expected to vote on the measure this week, and the Senate next week, to prevent a partial federal government shutdown on Jan. 30.
Dive Insight:
The bill is “a really good-news story for our industry,” APTA President and CEO Paul Skoutelas said in a hastily arranged webinar for its members Wednesday.
When combined with advance appropriations from the IIJA, the bill provides $21.1 billion to public transportation, a $168 million increase over the Fiscal Year 2025 level, according to APTA. However, more than $500 million was cut from a capital investment grant program for fixed-guideway transit, including light rail, subways, commuter rail and bus rapid transit.
“There are some wins and some losses,” Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews said in a web post. Amtrak funding is reduced by $115 million from FY 2025 appropriations, and the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program was slashed from $1.5 billion to $65 million.
The grant program, authorized by the IIJA, provides funding for new intercity passenger rail service, improvements to existing service or projects to repair equipment and infrastructure. Previous awards went to increase capacity at Chicago Union Station; create a new passenger rail route between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia; and help build the Brightline West high-speed rail system between Las Vegas and Southern California.
“There are also many more programs that won’t get funded at all because of deep capital program cuts,” Mathews said.
The legislation reasserts Congress’s role in funding. It requires the DOT to notify the House and Senate appropriations committees within 90 days of enactment about “each grant, cooperative agreement, and contract that was obligated in the 5 prior fiscal years and subsequently terminated, withdrawn, or reduced in scope during calendar year 2025 that remains terminated.”
Further, the bill says the DOT “shall not terminate a federal award in part or in its entirety” without following departmental procedures.
Taking a longer view, APTA Vice President for Government Affairs and Advocacy Ward McCarragher said on the webinar that the $21.1 billion funding level “really well positions us as we head into the year to see Congress begin to advance the surface transportation authorization bill.” These multiyear funding bills support highway and public transportation projects. The current five-year program expires Sept. 30, 2026.
