Urgent Action Needed to Reverse House of Representative Cuts to the Transportation Enhancements Program

On July 24, the House Appropriations Committee, 2003 upheld a subcommittee’s recommendation to slash funds for the popular Transportation Enhancements (TE) program in the FY 2004 budget bill. The Transportation Enhancements program uses 10% of the federal gas tax revenues to fund bike-pedestrian trail projects; rail-to-trail conversions; preservation of historic sites and historic transportation facilities; wetland mitigation project; job-access reverse commute programs; and many other innovative alternative transportation projects in twelve categories of eligibility. Over 16,000 projects have been funded in the past ten years, of which more than half have been hiking, biking or rail-trail projects.

The House Appropriations bill, H.R. 2989, essentially eliminates about $600 million in funding for any transportation enhancement projects in FY 2004. (A late manager’s amendment was accepted by the Appropriation’s Committee which restored ‘eligibility,’ but not funding.) Cuts to the TE program of this magnitude would have a huge negative impact on thousands of actual and proposed projects in communities across the country. Additionally, such action would set a dangerous precedent for future cuts just as the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21) is coming up for a multi-year reauthorization.

HR 2989 will likely come up for a vote in the full House as early as the first week in September. A floor amendment is expected to be proposed which would restore full, guaranteed funding to the Transportation Enhancements program. Such an amendment will need to be approved by the entire House, and will only be approved if there is widespread public support to restore funds to the TE program.

Ensuring the return of the guaranteed funding for Transportation Enhancements is of the highest importance for NRPA, and should be considered as one of the single most important legislative priorities of supporters of parks and recreation during the 108th Congress.

There is only a razor thin margin of time remaining to secure Congressional support for an amendment that would strike the language of Section 114, and return guaranteed funding for the TE program. Advocacy and education efforts must be initiated before Labor Day.

All supporters of pedestrian, biking, and rail trails, as well as advocates for community recreation, health, and wellness should contact their U.S. Representatives to urge their support to strike the language of Section 114, return full guaranteed funding to the Transportation Enhancements program, and reject any amendments to change, reduce, or flex the funding for the Transportation Enhancements program.

Action Needed: Contact your US Congress Representative before Labor Day. Respectfully request that he or she work to restore full, guaranteed funding for the Transportation Enhancements program. Ask them to vote to strike Section 114 from H.R. 2989, and reject any other amendments that might be offered to reduce or alter the funding for the Transportation Enhancements program.

Links and Background Information: The Rails to Trails Conservancy has posted state by state information on projects that is extremely valuable if you are talking to your congressman or his or her staff. This information can be easily reviewed at:http://www.railtrails.org/whatwedo/policy/tea21b.asp

• Talking Points:
• Cuts mean few if any projects will be approved in the future--If Transportation Enhancement projects remain “eligible” for funding, but are stripped of funding and must compete with highway construction projects as is called for in the present bill, it is a virtual certainty that very few TE projects will be approved for funding. From a historical perspective, between 1974 and 1991 only $40 million in bike-ped trail projects were approved in the entire country. From 1991 to 2003, over $6 billion was spent 16,000 projects across the United States, $3.3 billion on bike-ped trail projects alone. This is almost one hundred times the amount spent on bike-ped trails when such projects had to compete with highway construction projects.
• Cuts mean communities will have no dedicated funds and few incentives to continue building balanced, integrated transportation systems—Congress established the TE program in 1991 to commit a minimal percentage of revenues from the gas tax to be put into small scale, community based, locally selected transportation enhancements. The original intent of the first Transportation Equity Act has been fulfilled in each reauthorization, namely the compelling national interest in providing consistent federal support for balanced, integrated transportation networks.
  
  If Transportation Enhancement funds are cut from the TE program, there will no longer be any incentives for states and communities to continue to create balanced, integrated transportation systems. For more than 20 years, communities across the nation have been developing and implementing alternative forms of transportation that promote livability, connectivity, and quality of life. The vast majority of these projects are locally selected and of tremendous value to communities. There is no compelling reason to cut these programs which are among the most effective and well supported of the entire transportation funding bill.
• The public truly supports Transportation Enhancement projects, and wants to see them funded--Arguments advanced to justify the re-direction of funds from Transportation Enhancements to other highway construction projects miss the essential point that most Americans want transportation dollars spent for trails and enhancement projects. Survey after survey shows public support for spending transportation funds on bike-ped trails, rail-trail conversions, historic transportation preservation projects, landscaping, wetland loss mitigation, and other Enhancement categories.
  
  The TE program has supported more than 16,000 local transportation projects in almost every county and Congressional District in the country. These projects have made American communities better places to live by inspiring community revitalization, creating safe places to walk and bicycle, restoring historic transportation infrastructure, and sparking hometown pride
• Making these cuts is not about reducing spending--This is not a funding issue, although it has been portrayed as one by proponents of cuts. The funds for Transportation Enhancements were already authorized as part of a multi-year set-aside. In fact, H.R.2829, the Appropriations Bill for FY 2004 approved by the House Appropriations Committee, actually proposes to increase the transportation budget by $4.5 billion over the President’s request.

The purpose of these cuts is to re-direct funds from a program that is extraordinarily popular across America and which has been very successful in improving quality of life, health, and livability in thousands of towns and cities in every state in the union into monolithic highway spending. We believe the public does not want a block-grant approach to transportation funding that pits highway construction projects in their community against needs for balanced transportation systems and popular bike-ped trails and other enhancements that contribute to quality of life, personal health, and livability.

NOTE: Please let us know how your Representatives respond. Every vote on this bill will be crucial.
Contact: Rich Dolesh, Senior Policy Associate, rdolesh@nrpa.org or Barry Tindall, btindall@nrpa.org
(202)-887-0290

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