Background on the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill:

FY 2010 Senate Bill
Total Spending: $67.78 billion
This is a $12.4 billion (22.6%) increase over the FY 2009 regular order discretionary level of $55.3 billion.

Department of Transportation Funding
• FY 2010: $75.8 billion (this includes contract authority, which is not included in the total cost of the overall bill as noted above)
• The FY 2010 bill provides a 12% increase for the total DoT annual budget over last year’s level.
• In the last 12 years (since FY 1999), the DoT annual budget has increased 77% (42% adjusted for inflation).
• In 2009, DoT received $67.2 billion during the appropriations season and another $51.12 billion in Stimulus and Supplemental funding.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Funding
FY 2010: $45.8 billion
• The FY 2010 bill provides a 10% increase for the HUD budget over last year’s level.
• In the last 12 years (since FY 1999), the HUD annual budget has increased 88% (51% adjusted for inflation).
• In 2009, HUD received $41.5 billion during the appropriations season and another $13.6 billion in the Stimulus.

Earmarks
The THUD bill includes at least 580 earmarks costing $1.7 billion.

Coburn Amendments:
Amendment 2371: Allow States to Opt Out of Being Required to Fund “Transportation Enhancements”
The Surface Transportation Program is funded at over $6 billion annually and provides flexible funding to states for projects on any federal-aid highway, bridge, public road, or transit capital projects.

By law, and regardless of their other pressing transportation needs, states must spend approximately 10 percent of their annual Surface Transportation Program funding on “transportation enhancement activities,” including bike paths, historic preservation, scenic beautification and museums.

This amendment would allow states to opt-out of the federal requirement to set aside 10% of their surface transportation funding for these “enhancement activities” and shift the funding to more pressing critical transportation needs such as repairing roads and bridges.

$3.7 billion in transportation funding was obligated to 10,857 “transportation enhancement” projects between fiscal years 2004-2008. In addition, $833.5 million was authorized for Transportation Enhancement projects in FY 2009.

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. DOT, of the 601,396 bridges in the U.S. in 2008, 151,394 (25 percent) were deficient. This includes 71,461 (12 percent) “structurally deficient” bridges (those that show significant deterioration and have a reduced load-carrying capacity) and 79,933 (13 percent) “functionally obsolete” bridges (bridges that do not meet current design standards).

These figures expose a nationwide problem of deficient bridges as well as the misplaced priorities of Congress, which has focused more on funding politicians’ pet projects than improving aging infrastructure.

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Amendment 2373: Prohibit Road-Kill Reduction Projects
This amendment would prohibit funds in the bill from being used for road-kill reduction projects. 

Over the last five years up to $84 million has been spent on 213 projects to work on the “reduction of vehicle-caused wildlife mortality” or the “maintenance of habitat connectivity,” among other activities. These projects are part of what a General Accountability Office (GAO) audit determined were transportation projects for “purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges.”

In addition to the $84 million in the road-kill reduction category of spending from fiscal years 2004-2008, another $3.4 million from the 2009 federal stimulus bill is being spent by the Florida Department of Transportation for wildlife crossings, otherwise known as “eco-passages.”

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Amendment 2372: Prohibit Transportation Museum Funding
This amendment would prohibit funds in the bill from being used to build or support museums.

$28 million in federal transportation funds were set aside for 55 transportation museums from fiscal years 2004-2008.  These projects are among what a General Accountability Office (GAO) audit determined were $78 billion dollars worth of transportation projects for “purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges.”  As the country faces an $11.6 trillion debt, federal transportation funding should prioritized for critical infrastructure needs, not for transportation museums.

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Amendment 2370: Prohibit Low-Priority Spending Until DoT Secretary Certifies Highway Trust Fund is not Going Bankrupt
This amendment would prohibit transportation funding for road-kill reduction programs, transportation museums, scenic beautification projects, or bike and pedestrian paths, until the Secretary of Transportation certifies that the Highway Trust Fund is no longer in danger of being bankrupted. This will allow these funds to be used for critical surface transportation needs.

Over the last five years almost $3 billion has been funded through the federal transportation authorization and appropriations bills in areas that may not address the nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure.

These include
• $84 million has been spent on 213 projects to work on the “reduction of vehicle-caused wildlife mortality” or the “maintenance of habitat connectivity,” among other activities. 
• $3.4 million from the 2009 federal stimulus bill is being spent by the Florida Department of Transportation for wildlife crossings, otherwise known as “eco-passages.”
• $28 million for 55 transportation museums from fiscal years 2004-2008. 
• $850 million for 2,772 landscaping and other scenic beautification projects. 
• $2 billion for 5,547 pedestrian and bicycle facility projects. 
• $2 million in federal stimulus funds for a local Pennsylvania contractor to pave bicycle lanes along roadways that are so bad a local official suggested the cars might drive on the bike lane instead.

According to the U.S. DOT, of the 601,396 bridges in the U.S. in 2008, 151,394 (25 percent) were deficient. This includes 71,461 (12 percent) “structurally deficient” bridges (those that show significant deterioration and have a reduced load-carrying capacity) and 79,933 (13 percent) “functionally obsolete” bridges (bridges that do not meet current design standards). DOT also estimated it would cost $65 billion to repair all bridges adequately.

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Amendment 2374: Require HUD to Report to Congress on Homes Owned and the Cost to Taxpayers
This amendment would require HUD to report to Congress the following information:
• The number of residential homes it owns and these numbers for the last five years
• The last five years worth of financial losses or gains from owning, maintaining, and selling these homes
• The cost to taxpayers for acquiring each home and the amount of money lost of each home sale for the last five years, also detailing why each home was purchased
• A list of the top 10 cities with the most HUD-owned homes
• The homelessness rates for the top 10 cities with most HUD-owned homes
• The number of new public housing construction projects in the last five years in the top 10 cities with the most HUD-owned homes
• A list of recommendations for potential ways to remedy this situation

According to a May 15, 2009 USA Today article, the government now owns more than 50,000 homes, and “federal records show it’s struggling to unload the houses and facing billions of dollars in losses.” The article states that “Among the areas where the government owns the most homes is the west side of Detroit, where HUD sometimes has four houses or more for sale on the same block.”

The article details that “Since 2007, HUD has acquired at least 110,000 forclosed homes,”
spending about $12.2 billion to reimburse lenders after the owners defaulted on government-backed loans. So far, HUD has been able to recovery only about $5.5 billion by reselling them. It has about 38,000 homes still for sale.”

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Amendment 2377: Make Available to the Public all Reports Required in the Bill
This amendment would require all reports authorized by this appropriations bill to be publicized on the website of the federal agency that is either conducting the report or being reviewed in the report. The only exceptions are for reports that contain classified or proprietary information. This amendment was unanimously adopted to the E&W appropriations bill and was developed with the help of the appropriations committee.

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