Robert
S. Kirk, Coordinator
Specialist in Transportation Policy
John Frittelli
Specialist in Transportation Policy
Linda Luther
Analyst in Environmental Policy
William J. Mallett
Specialist in Transportation Policy
David Randall Peterman
Analyst in Transportation Policy
On
July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Moving Ahead for Progress in
the 21st Century Act (MAP-21; P.L. 112-141). The act authorized spending
on federal highway and public transportation programs, surface
transportation safety and research, and some rail programs and activities
through September 30, 2014. MAP-21 authorized roughly $105 billion for FY2013
and FY2014 combined. It also extended FY2012 surface transportation authorizations
to the end of the fiscal year, raising the total authorization to
approximately $118 billion.
Most of the funding for surface transportation bills has been drawn from the
highway trust fund (HTF) since its creation in 1956, but the HTF, which receives
revenue mainly from federal motor fuel taxes, has experienced declining
revenue due to a sluggish economy and improvements in vehicle fuel
efficiency. For the past several years, HTF revenue has been insufficient to
finance the government’s surface transportation programs, leading Congress
to delay reauthorization for 33 months following expiration of the last
multi-year reauthorization. Although Congress was unable to agree on a
long-term solution to the HTF revenue issue, MAP-21 did provide for the transfer
of sufficient general fund revenues to the HTF to fund a two-year bill.
MAP-21 made major changes in the programmatic structure for both highways and
public transportation and included initiatives intended to increase
program efficiency through performance-based planning and the streamlining
of project development. Among its major provisions, MAP-21 included:
-
for the federal-aid highway program, research, and education, authorizations
for FY2013 of $40.96 billion and for FY2014 of $41.03 billion;
-
for public transportation, authorizations for FY2013 of $10.58 billion and
for FY2014 of $10.7 billion;
-
for the Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (TIFIA), which
provides credit assistance for surface transportation projects, a significant expansion
that could provide credit support of up to $690 million for FY2013 and
$9.2 billion for FY2014;
-
major program restructuring, which reduced the number of highway programs by two-thirds
and consolidated public transportation programs as well; • more
distribution of funding via apportionment to the states and less discretionary
funding via the Department of Transportation (DOT) to individual projects;
-
no project earmarks;
-
no equity program, instead basing the distribution of highway funding on the FY2012
distribution such that each state will likely receive as much federal highway
funding as its highway users paid to the highway account of the HTF; and
-
changes in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance process intended
to accelerate project delivery.
Date of Report: September 27, 2012
Number of Pages: 37
Order Number: R42762
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R42762.pdf
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