Congress Passes a Year-Long CR, Averts Shutdown

Last Friday, the Senate passed H.R. 1968, a full-year continuing resolution, and President Trump signed it.

Most federal programs will continue at fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending levels. However, the measure added $2.16 billion to meet levels authorized in the 2021 infrastructure law and Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill. In addition, Congress stripped out $2.76 billion in FY 2024 congressionally directed spending projects and added no FY 2025 projects, making core program capital FY 2025 spending slightly lower than FY 2024.

See the FY 2025 USDOT budget sheets as prepared by Eno Transportation, an independent, non-partisan multi-modal transportation think-tank, here.

Now, Congress must turn its attention to the FY 2026 appropriations bills.

USDOT Issues Guidance on Discretionary Grant Reviews 

Last week, USDOT provided guidance on competitive award selections made after January 20, 2021, that do not have fully obligated grant agreements or cooperative agreements in place.

The memo directs administrators to review all project awards announced from FY 2022 through FY 2025 without grant agreements and partially obligated grant agreements. The goal is to identify projects with funding allocated to “advance climate, equity, and other priorities counter to the Administration’s Executive Orders.” Specifically targeted project elements include: 

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies;
• climate change activities;
• Environmental Justice (EJ);
• gender-specific priorities;
• bicycle infrastructure (i.e., recreational trails and shared-use paths, etc.); and 
• electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging infrastructure.

USDOT leadership will evaluate flagged projects and recommend whether the projects should continue in their current form with no change, be revised with a reduced or modified scope, or be canceled.  

Upcoming Events

The Construction Business Group Conference will take place April 23-24 at the Madison Club.

This event features an amazing lineup of speakers and topics, with networking opportunities. Conference attendees include building trade professionals, contractor association staff, contractor executives, utility representatives, and government officials.

More details and registration information are available here.

If you would like TDA to consider including your organization's update or event in an upcoming newsletter, please forward information to Luke Pearson at luke.pearson@tdawisconsin.org.