FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 14, 2002HOUSE TO RESTORE $56 MILLION IN HIGHWAY FUNDS TO CONNECTICUT
WASHINGTON, D.C.- U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) today voted in favor of H.R. 3694, the Highway Funding Restoration Act, which requires the House Appropriations Committee to restore $4.4 billion in federal highway funds for states that were cut in the Bush Administration's Fiscal Year 2003 budget request. This action increases Connecticut's Fiscal Year 2003 transportation allocation by approximately $56 million above the level proposed by President Bush.
Larson stated: "Connecticut is working to improve and invest in our transportation system and a loss of $56 million in federal support would have dealt a significant blow to these efforts. This loss would have also adversely affected our economy by impacting thousands of jobs in the state. I am pleased that Congress was able to work to restore this much needed funding to the states."
The Appropriations Committee will include the funding in a supplemental appropriations bill that will be taken up by the full House as early as next week. The Administration's request for fiscal year 2003 called for approximately $23.2 billion in highway funding, but today's legislation allows the Appropriations Committee to adhere to the funding level of $27.7 billion authorized by Congress in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), signed into law in 1998, which specifically regulates federal transportation funding for states.
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