The Sausage Gets Made

Fiscal year 2017 is more than half over and Congress has finally passed a spending bill for the year. This has led to endless debates over whether Trump won, the Democrats won, or anybody won. However, Trump proposed a “budget blueprint” for fiscal year 2018 that said little about 2017, while this spending bill is for 2017, so it would be premature to say that Trump won or lost.

Among other things, the budget blueprint called for halting funding to transit capital projects (“New Starts”) other than projects that have already received full-funding grant agreements (or, in the case of small starts, small starts grant agreements). In other words, any project on this list that is not marked “FFGA” or “SSGA” in the fourth column would not be funded under Trump’s budget.

viagra pfizer prix If you are anticipating ‘all night spicy performance’ in bed, certainly you are not alone. If the levitra without prescription effect of this medicine stays for six hours. So, viagra india online and viagrae of same genre. ED also is associated female viagra buy with medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus, heart disease, hypertension and cigarette smoking. Pages 32 and 33 of the Congressional directives for transportation in the new spending bill specifies funding for a number of projects that have full-funding grant agreements as well as funds “for projects anticipated to enter into a signed FFGA in 2017.” The latter include the Maryland Purple Line $125 million), the Twin Cities Southwest Line ($10 million), the Seattle Lynnwood light-rail line ($100 million), and a Santa Ana streetcar ($50 million). There are also three capacity improvement projects, including the controversial electrification of San Francisco commuter trains ($100 million), lengthening platforms for Dallas light-rail lines ($49 million), and new power stations for the New York City subway ($84 million). None of the small starts projects listed on page 33 have signed grant agreements.

If the Trump administration doesn’t sign these grant agreements, then the funds won’t be spent, at least not in 2017. You can expect a lot of lobbying and horse trading in the next few months. But until the administration nominates an administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, there aren’t many people to lobby other than Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. Rumor has it that the administration has picked an FTA administrator but they are still going through the vetting process.