Administration touts rapid stimulus spending on transportation projects
Federal agencies have helped states exceed Recovery Act goals, officials say.
While officials from federal transportation agencies on Thursday told lawmakers of their success exceeding the goals outlined under the Recovery Act, Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood highlighted states' progress in quickly executing highway projects.
Officials from Amtrak, the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that LaHood's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) team approach to stimulus spending has helped them to at least meet the timetables in the law.
For example, the Recovery Act stipulated that half of the $1.1 billion allocated to FAA for airport grants under the Recovery Act had to be awarded within 120 days. FAA surpassed that requirement by awarding 66 percent of its total funding during the first 120 days of the stimulus effort. FAA Administrator Randolph Babbitt said those funds are supporting as many as 7,900 jobs and providing valuable improvements to infrastructure.
Joseph Szabo, head of the FRA, said his agency also has met or exceeded every Recovery Act milestone so far, despite receiving $9.3 billion in stimulus money on top of its fiscal 2009 appropriation of $1.7 billion.
FTA chief Peter Rogoff acknowledged that meeting the stimulus goals took extraordinary effort. He said his agency worked overtime to stand up the six public transportation programs it was responsible for under the Recovery Act, as well as to develop guidance for grantees.
Jeffrey Paniati, acting deputy administrator of FHA, told lawmakers that he understand the crucial role his agency must play in the economic recovery. The administration has estimated that the highway portion alone of the Recovery Act will create or sustain almost 300,000 jobs by 2012. The agency has been working to disburse stimulus funds quickly to states and to grant rapid approval to projects that meet applicable federal requirements.
Shortly after the transportation officials testified before Congress, Biden and LaHood announced that 55 states and territories have beaten the deadline by at least 10 days to obligate 50 percent of highway funds by June 29. Since the Recovery Act was signed, $19 billion has been obligated to fund more than 5,300 approved highway and other transportation projects. Of those, 1,900 projects are already under way.
"Our No. 1 priority with the Recovery Act is getting folks back to work -- and there is no better way to do that in these early days than by putting shovels in the ground and jump-starting projects like these that create jobs and boost local communities," Biden said.
Across the country, transportation projects funded by the Recovery Act are coming in under budget and ahead of schedule, according to Biden. States are routinely receiving bids for highway and airport construction projects that are 10 percent to 20 percent -- and in some cases as much as 30 percent -- lower than expected, allowing additional projects to be completed and creating more jobs.
LaHood said states' ability to beat the 120-day deadline is a testament to the fact that federal agencies are distributing the money quickly.
Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said at the current pace, transportation-related stimulus projects will generate a 250,000 construction jobs by the end of September, but Ranking Member Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said he continued to have concerns about bureaucracy slowing the flow of money from federal agencies to states.
"Nobody asked me to come to Washington to pass more red tape; people want jobs and they want them now," Mica said. "It's pitiful that we can't get people working. We can't get this stimulus money out if we're tied up in red tape."