Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee agrees pilot disaster fund language that limits use and preserves reversion
Summary
Conference negotiators agreed to budget language that restricts a pilot fund to nonfederal disaster uses, prevents its transfer into the transportation fund, and allows unspent money to revert to the pilot fund.
Members of the Senate-House conference committee on the T bill reached agreement on language governing a pilot disaster fund and how it interacts with the transportation (T) fund.
A staff member described the agreed drafting: "No. The 1 1 1 5 pilot fund is for nonfederal disasters. And the way I drafted that language for the budget, it can only be used for that purpose and cannot be put into the t fund or used for any other transportation purposes. And if it's unspent, it reverts to the pilot fund." Committee participants said that under the draft, if the policy language is not accepted later in the process the appropriated pilot money would remain appropriated but could not be used for transportation purposes and would revert if unspent.
Committee members also discussed how leaving the pilot language out of policy would shift pressure back onto the T fund. One member summarized the trade-off: without the policy swap, the T fund would bear additional obligations while the pilot fund appropriation could remain unused for its intended purpose.
At the end of the discussion, members said they had agreement on the pilot fund language for the bill and planned to carry agreed language forward in the conference draft. There was no formal recorded vote at the meeting.
