WASHINGTON -- House and Senate conferees agreed yesterday to provide $36.5 billion for transportation projects in fiscal 1995.
The total is about $2 billion less than the amounts approved by the separate Senate and House appropriations committees this summer.
"We've run out of dough," said Sen. Frank Lautenburg, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee, in explaining the lower amounts.
Congressional aides were unable to say right after the agreement was reached exactly how much would be provided for highway and mass transit projects in the upcoming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
But the aides said the ceiling on the highway trust fund, which provides the bulk of highway grants, was set at $17.2 billion.
The House Appropriations Committee approved $19.9 billion for highways June 16 and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $20.3 billion July 21. The final fiscal 1995 amount will probably fall somewhere between the House and Senate numbers, a Senate staff member said.
Mass transit projects were slated to receive $4.62 billion by the House Appropriations Committee and $4.60 billion by the Senate Appropriations Committee during their summer deliberations. As with the highway funds, the mass transit funds are expected to be a compromise between the very similar House and Senate approved amounts.
The conferees also agreed to set aside $1.45 billion for airport construction grants in fiscal 1995, which is essentially the same amount recommended by both the House and Senate appropriations committees this summer.
The House and Senate are expected to give final approval to the transportation spending bill before adjourning in early October.
-- Heather Ann Hope
