DALLAS — President Obama used his weekly Saturday radio address to criticize House Republicans for chopping the popular Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program to $100 million next year after applications last week topped $9.5 billion for $600 million of the transit-related grants.
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday is expected to adopt a subcommittee's fiscal 2015 budget for the Transportation Department that includes the lower funding level for the TIGER program.
The Obama administration's $302 billion, four-year transportation infrastructure proposal would fund the Tiger program at $5 billion over four years, with $1 billion a year of competitive grants and a cumulative $1 billion of discretionary grants.
The president said his Grow America Act transportation proposal would increase funding for TIGER and other infrastructure programs. He said the plan would supplement low gasoline tax collections in the rapidly depleting Highway Trust Fund with an estimated $150 billion of one-time revenue from a revamp of the corporate tax code.
"Now, the Republicans in Congress seem to have very different priorities," Obama told those listening. "Not only have they neglected to prevent this funding from running out, their proposal would actually cut by 80% a job-creating grant program that has funded high-priority transportation projects in all 50 states.
"And they can't say it's to save money, because at the very same time, they voted for trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, weighted towards those at the very top,' he said.
The president's proposal would also make permanent the TIGER program. The grant program began as part of the 2009 stimulus package and must be renewed by Congress every year.
Republicans on the appropriations committee said their 2015 proposal for TIGER is $500 million less than in 2014 and $1.15 billion less than requested in 2015.
"However, this legislation limits the use of these grants to projects that will address critical transportation needs, such as road, highway, and bridge construction and improvement, and port and railroad intermodal improvements," Republicans on the subcommittee said.
The subcommittee said its budget will prohibit grant recipients from using TIGER to fund recreational bike and walking trails, congestion pricing programs, and other efforts it considered to be non-essential.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a six-year transportation bill last week that also would make TIGER a permanent program. The committee's proposal would keep TIGER funding at 2014 levels plus inflation through 2020.
DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said the over-subscription of the 2014 TIGER grants, the sixth round of funding for the program, is evidence that the program should be increased, not cut.
DOT received 797 applications totaling $9.5 billion for the $600 million of grants, he said, including proposals from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.
"America is hungry for infrastructure investment," Foxx said. "The continued overwhelming demand for these grants demonstrates that communities want the kind of long-term funding our Grow America Act provides to build transportation projects across the country."
There were 585 applications for the $474 million in the 2013 funding round, he said, noting that the 54 grants awarded in 2013 were leveraged to support $1.8 billion in overall project investments.
A total of $4.1 billion has been appropriated for TIGER over the six rounds. Funding included $1.5 billion in 2009, $600 million in 2010, $527 million in 2011, and $500 million in 2012.
