II

Calendar No. 433 114TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2844 [Report No. 114–243]

Making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 21, 2016 Ms. COLLINS, from the Committee on Appropriations, reported the following

original bill; which was read twice and placed on the calendar

A BILL Making appropriations for the Departments of Transpor-

tation, and Housing and Urban Development, and re- lated agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

That the following sums are appropriated, out of any 3

money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 4

Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban 5

2

•S 2844 PCS

Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year end-1

ing September 30, 2017, and for other purposes, namely: 2

TITLE I 3

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 4

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 5

SALARIES AND EXPENSES 6

For necessary expenses of the Office of the Secretary, 7

$116,396,000, of which not to exceed $2,758,000 shall be 8

available for the immediate Office of the Secretary; not 9

to exceed $1,040,000 shall be available for the immediate 10

Office of the Deputy Secretary; not to exceed $20,772,000 11

shall be available for the Office of the General Counsel; 12

not to exceed $11,108,000 shall be available for the Office 13

of the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy; not 14

to exceed $16,020,000 shall be available for the Office of 15

the Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs; not to 16

exceed $2,569,000 shall be available for the Office of the 17

Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs; not to ex-18

ceed $30,054,000 shall be available for the Office of the 19

Assistant Secretary for Administration; not to exceed 20

$2,142,000 shall be available for the Office of Public Af-21

fairs; not to exceed $1,760,000 shall be available for the 22

Office of the Executive Secretariat; not to exceed 23

$11,089,000 shall be available for the Office of Intel-24

ligence, Security, and Emergency Response; and not to ex-25

3

•S 2844 PCS

ceed $17,084,000 shall be available for the Office of the 1

Chief Information Officer: Provided, That the Secretary 2

of Transportation is authorized to transfer funds appro-3

priated for any office of the Office of the Secretary to any 4

other office of the Office of the Secretary: Provided fur-5

ther, That no appropriation for any office shall be in-6

creased or decreased by more than 5 percent by all such 7

transfers: Provided further, That notice of any change in 8

funding greater than 5 percent shall be submitted for ap-9

proval to the House and Senate Committees on Appropria-10

tions: Provided further, That not to exceed $60,000 shall 11

be for allocation within the Department for official recep-12

tion and representation expenses as the Secretary may de-13

termine: Provided further, That notwithstanding any other 14

provision of law, excluding fees authorized in Public Law 15

107–71, there may be credited to this appropriation up 16

to $2,500,000 in funds received in user fees: Provided fur-17

ther, That none of the funds provided in this Act shall 18

be available for the position of Assistant Secretary for 19

Public Affairs. 20

RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 21

For necessary expenses related to the Office of the 22

Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, 23

$13,044,000, of which $8,218,000 shall remain available 24

until September 30, 2019: Provided, That there may be 25

4

•S 2844 PCS

credited to this appropriation, to be available until ex-1

pended, funds received from States, counties, municipali-2

ties, other public authorities, and private sources for ex-3

penses incurred for training: Provided further, That any 4

reference in law, regulation, judicial proceedings, or else-5

where to the Research and Innovative Technology Admin-6

istration shall continue to be deemed to be a reference to 7

the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and 8

Technology of the Department of Transportation. 9

NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS 10

For capital investments in surface transportation in-11

frastructure, $525,000,000, to remain available through 12

September 30, 2020: Provided, That the Secretary of 13

Transportation shall distribute funds provided under this 14

heading as discretionary grants to be awarded to a State, 15

local government, transit agency, or a collaboration among 16

such entities on a competitive basis for projects that will 17

have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan 18

area, or a region: Provided further, That projects eligible 19

for funding provided under this heading shall include, but 20

not be limited to, highway or bridge projects eligible under 21

title 23, United States Code; public transportation 22

projects eligible under chapter 53 of title 49, United 23

States Code; passenger and freight rail transportation 24

projects; and port infrastructure investments (including 25

5

•S 2844 PCS

inland port infrastructure and land ports of entry): Pro-1

vided further, That the Secretary may use up to 20 per-2

cent of the funds made available under this heading for 3

the purpose of paying the subsidy and administrative costs 4

of projects eligible for Federal credit assistance under 5

chapter 6 of title 23, United States Code, if the Secretary 6

finds that such use of the funds would advance the pur-7

poses of this paragraph: Provided further, That in distrib-8

uting funds provided under this heading, the Secretary 9

shall take such measures so as to ensure an equitable geo-10

graphic distribution of funds, an appropriate balance in 11

addressing the needs of urban and rural areas, and the 12

investment in a variety of transportation modes: Provided 13

further, That a grant funded under this heading shall be 14

not less than $5,000,000 and not greater than 15

$25,000,000: Provided further, That not more than 10 16

percent of the funds made available under this heading 17

may be awarded to projects in a single State: Provided 18

further, That the Federal share of the costs for which an 19

expenditure is made under this heading shall be, at the 20

option of the recipient, up to 80 percent: Provided further, 21

That the Secretary shall give priority to projects that re-22

quire a contribution of Federal funds in order to complete 23

an overall financing package: Provided further, That not 24

less than 30 percent of the funds provided under this 25

6

•S 2844 PCS

heading shall be for projects located in rural areas: Pro-1

vided further, That for projects located in rural areas, the 2

minimum grant size shall be $1,000,000 and the Secretary 3

may increase the Federal share of costs above 80 percent: 4

Provided further, That projects conducted using funds pro-5

vided under this heading must comply with the require-6

ments of subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United 7

States Code: Provided further, That the Secretary shall 8

conduct a new competition to select the grants and credit 9

assistance awarded under this heading: Provided further, 10

That the Secretary may retain up to $20,000,000 of the 11

funds provided under this heading, and may transfer por-12

tions of those funds to the Administrators of the Federal 13

Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administra-14

tion, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Mari-15

time Administration, to fund the award and oversight of 16

grants and credit assistance made under the National In-17

frastructure Investments program. 18

NATIONAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AND INNOVATIVE 19

FINANCE BUREAU 20

For necessary expenses for the establishment and ad-21

ministration of a new National Surface Transportation 22

and Innovative Finance Bureau (the Bureau) within the 23

Office of the Secretary of Transportation, $3,000,000, to 24

remain available until expended: Provided, That the Sec-25

7

•S 2844 PCS

retary of Transportation shall use such amount for the 1

necessary expenses to establish the Bureau and to fulfill 2

the responsibilities of the Bureau, as detailed in section 3

9001 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation 4

(FAST) Act (Public Law 114–94) (49 U.S.C. 116): Pro-5

vided further, That the Secretary is required to receive the 6

advance approval of the House and Senate Committees on 7

Appropriations prior to exercising the authorities of 49 8