House Boosts Transpo and Housing Spending Levels By 25%

The House Appropriations Committee has just released its "302(b)s," the allocations that determine how much money can be spent by each of the dozen appropriations panels that supervise federal agency budgets.

Rep. John Olver (D-MA) (Photo: Washington Post)

And in a fortuitous bit of news for transportation wonks, the panel known as "THUD" -- short for Transportation and Housing & Urban Development, the two agencies under its purview -- got $68.8 billion to work with for the fiscal year that begins in October. That's 25 percent more than the House THUD folks got during the last fiscal year, when the panel got a $55 billion allocation.

It's important to note that this $68.8 billion is separate from the six-year federal transportation bill that could be approved as soon as this fall. The THUD appropriations panel, chaired by Rep. John Olver (D-MA), could send a greater share of its money to transit projects without bumping up against the funding formulas that determine large portions of the six-year federal bill.