Congress is poised to complete action on economic stimulus legislation, HR 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The House passed the bill 246-183 earlier today and the Senate is scheduled to vote tonight. All three GOP Senators who voted for the Senate version of the bill (Specter, Snowe and Collins) have pledged to vote for final passage.
The Act includes a total of $787.2 billion in spending and tax cuts.
The bill includes $47.8 billion in transportation funding as follows:
- $27.5 billion for high & bridge formula funding
- $1.5 billion for discretionary competitive grant program for surface transportation
- $8.4 billion public transportation
- $850 million Amtrak capital grants
- $450 million Amtrak security upgrades
- $8 billion for construction of high speed and intercity rail projects
- $1.1 billion Airport Improvement Grants