OOIDA is praising the work of House lawmakers for getting an amendment passed to protect $200 million in highway money from being doled out for the DOT’s “livability” grants.

The amendment, offered by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, was part of a Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bill – commonly referred to as the THUD bill – passed by the House on Thursday, July 29.

The amendment states that the $200 million may only be used for U.S. Department of Transportation livability grants if the program receives authorization from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. DeFazio is chairman of the T&I Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

DeFazio used the amendment to send a message about the need for Congress and the White House to knuckle down and pass a long-term transportation authorization bill.

“If Congress is to authorize a new livable communities program, we should do so as part of a comprehensive surface transportation authorization – not as part of an annual appropriations bill,” DeFazio stated in a letter to fellow lawmakers.

During debate, DeFazio questioned the administration’s broad definition of “livability,” which amounts to what people want in their communities. It could be bike paths, walking trails or just about anything that pairs up quality of life with mobility.

OOIDA says DeFazio kept truckers and other highway users in mind with his amendment.

“We greatly appreciate Chairman DeFazio’s leadership to protect the jurisdiction of the highway bill authorizing committee. His amendment sends a strong message to the administration that it is time to take up a full highway authorization bill,” said OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Mike Joyce.

“The effort to authorize livable communities initiatives and raid the federal highways account of $200 million is totally inappropriate.”

Joyce said OOIDA will continue to work with DeFazio and other lawmakers to keep the DOT from encroaching on the jurisdiction of the T&I Committee.

“We will remain opposed to efforts to use highway dollars to pay for an ambiguous livable communities initiative when our highways and bridges remain in dire need of attention and further capacity expansion,” Joyce said Friday.

Even with DeFazio’s amendment, the THUD spending bill still contains a separate provision to provide $20 million in start-up funding for the livability initiative. DeFazio attempted to block that effort with an amendment, but the amendment was not agreed to. Nonetheless, the Senate version of the THUD bill does not contain the $20 million start-up for the livability initiative.

Highlights of the House spending bill, HR5850, include:

• $67.4 billion in discretionary funding, $1.3 billion below President Obama’s budget request and $500 million below 2010 spending levels;
• $45.95 billion for the Highway Trust Fund;
• $260 million for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s motor carrier safety operations;
• $148.1 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration;
• $9.2 billion for transit from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund; and
• $24.1 million for the Federal Transit Administration.

The House considered 24 amendments – of which 10 were adopted, including DeFazio’s.

Before the appropriations bill can become law, the House and Senate must reconcile any differences in language in order to send the final version to the president for a signature.

– By David Tanner, associate editor
david_tanner@landlinemag.com