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President Bush recently signed into law the fiscal-year 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 2863), which, as the last FY2006 appropriations bill to be approved, became the “legislative vehicle for a number of issues unrelated to defense spending,” according to today’s American Public Transportation Association’s Legislative Update.

The bill includes a 1 percent across-the-board funding cut for all FY2006 discretionary programs. The reduction affects FY2006 budgets for a number of programs, including the federal transit program, which now will be funded at $8.5 billion compared with the previously approved $8.6 billion.

The cutback also will apply to funding programs within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including those that provide rail and transit security grants.