Earlier today the Senate published the draft omnibus bill to fund federal agencies through September 2011. The current continuing resolution expires Saturday and Senate votes are expected Friday or Saturday. The proposal includes language extending SAFETEA-LU and the aviation authorization.

Now we wait to see if the Senate can get 60 votes to pass and, even if they do, if the House will concur. Both are tall orders, although some Republican Senators have expressed support for an omnibus over a continuing resolution. The legislative maneuvering within and between the Senate and House could last until Christmas eve.

Earmarks are included in the bill (see document below) and there will almost certainly be a press and Senate Republican pushback about that. Nearly all WA state earmarks in the draft appropriations bill have survived, with their dollar amount intact. One big difference is WSDOT’s CRC FTA New Starts earmark was slashed to $29,000,000 (from the original $40,000,000), probably reflecting the Senate’s desire to reduce the overall spending level of the bill.

The currently available version does not include the FTA New Starts section, but that’s an oversight. The bill does include a New Starts section (as per a Senate committee news release), and I’m told the section does include King County’s West Seattle BRT project ($21,274,000 in last summer’s appropriations draft bill).

The Senate includes $1 billion for intercity and high speed rail, agreeing with the House's proposed allocation.

What will happen? Hard to tell but here the likely outcomes:
1. Senate passes Omnibus, House concurs, Omnibus passes, earmarks survive.
2. Senate passes Omnibus, House defeats Omnibus. Most likely result: Short term continuing resolution (into February, at FY 2010 funding levels, no earmarks) enacted.
2. Senate defeats Omnibus, agrees with House to pass continuing resolution (at FY 2010 funding levels, no earmarks) enacted.

The bill proposes a spending level that is $26 billion less than the President’s budget.

Resources:
The summary of transportation section.
The separate section containing transportation earmarks.
The entire omnibus bill (warning: 1924 pages). The USDOT appropriations section is pages 1460 through 1555 1682 to 1685. The SAFETEA-LU extension is pages 1,659 to 1,682 and the aviation authorization extension is on pages 1,682 to 1,685.

WA Post article: “Senate spending bill contains thousands of earmarks"
Politico article:, “Dem budget bill: $1.1 trillion; 1,900 pages”
Washington Times’ article: “Reid threatens to keep Congress into next year”

See the list of earmarks:


WA State Earmarks in Omnibus Draft