Insights - July/August 2018 - 34

GOVERNMENT NEWS
Water Resources Bill
Advances in Congress
Despite public showdowns making it
seem as though Congress is at a standstill, a handful of transportation and infrastructure bills have been moving - albeit
slowly - with bipartisan support. Adhering to a two-year authorization schedule,
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced the Water
Resources Development Act of 2018 on
May 18, 2018. Like previous WRDA bills,
H.R. 8 would provide for improvements in
U.S. ports, inland waterways, locks, dams
and other water resource infrastructure.
Sponsored by Committee Chairman Shuster (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member DeFazio
(D-Ore.) as well as the Water Resources
and Environment Subcommittee's Chairman Graves (R-La.) and Ranking Member
Napolitano (D-Calif.), the bill passed the
House by a vote of 408 - 2 on June 6,
2018. It now awaits consideration in the
Senate.

2019 Fiscal Year
Appropriations Process
Underway
Early this year, Congress struck a twoyear budget agreement increasing spending by $300 billion; congressional leadership promised $20 billion of the increased
funding to infrastructure.
Prior to the budget deal, Congress appropriated roughly $500 million annually to
the Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery program. First created
under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, TIGER is a competitive grant program available to a wide array
of transportation infrastructure projects,
including seaport, rail and intermodal,
among others. Given the newly-available
$20 billion, to be divided in half between
FY18 and FY19, Congress appropriated
$1.5 billion for the TIGER program, tripling
the program's size in recent years. In April
2018, the Trump administration issued a
notice of funding opportunity making the
$1.5 billion available and also rebranding it

the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development program. BUILD places a
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For FY19, both the House and the
Senate continued the increase in funding
for BUILD. The House's Transportation,
Housing and Urban Development bill was
approved by the House Appropriations
Committee on May 23, 2018 and was ofƒEKCNN[KPVTQFWEGFCU*4QP,WPG
2018. It would provide $27.9 billion in discretionary appropriations for the U.S. Department of Transportation in FY19, $542
million above FY18 enacted levels. The
appropriations bill includes $750 million for
BUILD and calls for balanced distribution
of funding between rural, suburban and
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mandates that $250 million be set aside
for seaport projects as well as intermodal
connectors serving seaport facilities.
For its part, on June 7, 2018 the Senate Appropriations Committee approved
a measure that includes $26.6 billion in
discretionary spending for USDOT in FY19,
$698 million below FY18 enacted levels.

If Your Chassis Isn't New, It's Old:
THE TRUTH BEHIND REFURBISHED CHASSIS
Some have had lights replaced, but not all

Axles are 15-25 years old

Repainted

REFURBISHED

Majority without ABS
Bias-Ply Tires
No tire inflation
5-spoke wheels
Built 2016-2018 LED lights

Powder coated paint for durability

NEW

ABS
OEM radial tires
Auto-inflation
Hub-piloted disc wheels

U P G R A D E TO DAY. M E E T YO U R M I L E S TO N E . M I L E CO R P.CO M
34 Intermodal Insights | July/August 2018

http://www.MILECORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - July/August 2018