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Today, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) unveiled his transportation reauthorization proposal, which would commit $230 billion for surface transportation programs during the next six years.

The proposal slashes transit funding by about 30 percent compared with the SAFETEA-LU bill, but the funding level must comply with the House-passed budget resolution, which states the T&I committee only can authorize programs that fall within the limits of the Highway Trust Fund, Mica said during a webcast this morning.

The proposal calls for making high-speed rail projects eligible for loans under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, which currently has $35 billion in loan capacity, only $400 million of which has been granted, said Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Bill Shuster during the webcast.

“We must improve access and untie the knots that the regulations and bureaucracy have put into the program,” he said. “We need to broaden the eligibility, increase transparency and accountability at the FRA and make those RRIF loans more attractive through more flexible loan terms.”

Other high-speed and intercity passenger rail-related elements in the proposal include:

• placing limits on Amtrak’s use of federal funds to “focus it on providing better service”;
• ensuring high-speed rail projects are “truly high-speed in their definition and design” (capable of reaching speeds of 125 mph, according to Shuster);
• cutting Amtrak operating subsidies by 25 percent in FY12 and FY13;
• leveraging private-sector dollars and expertise for high-speed rail project financing;
• requiring transparency in project funding application evaluation and selection; and
• repealing capital investment grants to support the intercity passenger-rail program to “prevent the administration from continuing to give federal funds to low-speed rail projects,” saving $1.1 billion in FY12 and FY13.

The bill will not include the Competition for Intercity and Passenger Rail Act, which was unveiled by Mica and Shuster last month and calls for private-sector participation in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and on long-distance routes.

“It’s moving on a separate path,” Shuster said.

— Angela Cotey