The White House FY 2018 budget on infrastructure includes:
• A 13% overall funding cut for the Department of Transportation.
• A $95-billion cut to surface transportation funding though the Highway Trust Fund over the next decade.
• The elimination of the TIGER grant program, an annual $499-million reduction in national infrastructure investment.
• A 45% cut to the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Program (New Starts), limiting future funding to projects with existing full funding grant agreements only.
• The elimination of the Essential Air Service program, which supports commercial air service to rural America and a $630-million reduction in federal support for Amtrak.
A fact sheet with proposals for the White House’s new infrastructure initiative, including expansions of TIFIA and the Private Activity Bonds program, increased use of tolling, and changes in the permitting process, and federal accounting. Fixing the Highway Trust Fund is not mentioned.
(Big picture, the Trump budget optimistically assumes annual GNP growth of 3% and then double counts the positive impact of that growth on the federal budget. The Congressional Budget Office will re-estimate the impact soon, and it will show trillions in new debt that has to be offset with budget cuts.)