(Washington, DC) Congresswoman Brown, a prominent member of the Transportation Committee, was proud to announce the passage of HR 3694, the Highway Funding Restoration Act. This bill sets the FY 2003 funding level for core highway and highway safety programs at $27.7 billion, which is approximately equal to the projected funding level for FY 2003 originally set by the Transportation Equity Act (TEA 21). With this funding restoration, the $4.4 billion in funding proposed to be cut by the administration under the automatic Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) mechanism will be offset; for Florida, this will mean a funding increase of $173,162,302.

The bill specifies that the restored funding be distributed to states under the existing highway formulas set by TEA 21, and requires the RABA adjustment for highway budgets be modified in the future to more accurately align highway spending with highway revenues, while at the same time maintaining stability in funding.

“This is something we have worked tirelessly for in committee, and I am extremely pleased to see this vital funding to improve our highways and roads will be restored, as well as hundreds of thousands of transportation related jobs.”