The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee early this morning passed its budget reconciliation package. The package includes:

• $10 billion for making improvements to transit infrastructure including increasing access to transit between affordable housing and centers of employment and investing in zero emissions buses;
• $10 billion for high-speed rail;
• $4 billion for neighborhood equity, safety, and affordable transportation access;
• $4 billion to reduce surface transportation related greenhouse gas emissions;
• $5.5 billion for the Economic Development Administration; and
• Significant funding to improve the resilience of the nation’s transit systems and maritime industry.

In response to the markup of the package, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“A reliable transit system is crucial to connecting our nation’s working people with available jobs. The funding included in this bill will help to provide a lifeline to low-income communities, opening up access to jobs that otherwise may be out of reach while also providing immediate and long-term investment and boosting domestic transit manufacturing. Additionally, by proactively investing in improving the resilience of our transit systems we can get out ahead of the destructive impacts of climate change.

“This package acknowledges that working people have too often felt the pain of shifts in technology and strives to ensure that we are not leaving workers or communities behind.”