The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the fiscal-year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations bill. The bill provides $56.6 billion to fund the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies.
The DOT will have $16.9 billion in discretionary appropriations to fund programs to make transportation systems safe, efficient and reliable. The bill also allocates $44 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for Federal-aid Highway Programs and continues to allow state DOTs to repurpose old, unused earmarks for infrastructure projects.
The 2017 THUD bill also includes $891 million for agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to fund various transportation safety programs including autonomous vehicle research.
