Nearly six months into the federal fiscal year, the FY22 budget is on its way to President Biden’s desk.
The Senate passed the $1.5 billion omnibus spending plan Thursday, less than a day after the
Once Biden signs the legislation, it will lift the brick on money in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $1.2 trillion package Congress passed last year that’s had
Sen. Chuck Schumer said the budget would unlock "billions on billions to fully fund the bipartisan infrastructure law."
The IIJA money should begin to flow to states in the next two to three weeks, said Jeff Davis, a senior fellow with the Eno Center for Transportation during a Thursday webinar on the omnibus spending bill.
The new budget will also accelerate the U.S. Department of Transportation’s focus on rulemaking for new IIJA programs and implementation of others like the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-saving Transportation, or PROTECT, program.
“All legal barriers to full implementation of IIJA will be gone,” Davis said, adding that the IIJA will ensure annual allocations of formula funding to states through 2026.
“People always want multi-year certainty,” he said.
With the IIJA and the appropriations bill, the DOT’s annual budget has risen to roughly $140 billion from $80 billion in FY21. The DOT has also shifted some of its allocations, with comparably less spending on highways than in FY21, Davis said. The Federal Highway Administration has seen its funding rise by 43%, while the Federal Railroad Administration has seen its funding jump 486%.
The Senate also followed the House's move to pass a four-day continuing resolution to keep the government funded through March 15 to allow sufficient time to enroll the bill and have Biden sign it.
The 12-bill omnibus is the “strongest, boldest and most significant government funding package we’ve seen in a long time,” Schumer said.
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association praised the legislation, saying it “pumps record investment increases into the federal highway and public transportation programs."
Biden is expected to sign the bill into law before government funding runs out at midnight Friday.
