Under the House rules package adopted Jan. 5, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, was given the power to set a limit on Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations in the House in lieu of a budget resolution. House Resolution 38 directs Ryan to make the allocation for nonsecurity discretionary spending at or below the levels seen in fiscal 2008, but does not specify an exact number.

Current funding for the U.S. Department of Transportation and all of its programs will expire March 4. Congress must act by then to extend appropriations for the remainder of this fiscal year, which concludes Sept. 30.

Because nonsecurity discretionary spending makes up only a small portion of overall federal outlays -- about 13% last fiscal year -- cuts to the programs such as transportation will need to be sharp to meet the GOP goal, BNA reported.

"We want to just as quickly as possible begin this process of reducing the size and reach of government," House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-California, said during Wednesday's committee meeting.

During a Wednesday event at Washington's Union Station to launch a campaign seeking Americans to speak out in favor of transportation (see related story), transportation leaders said cutting federal infrastructure investment levels would be devastating.

"As two congressionally appointed commissions concluded, we are presently investing well below what is needed in this country -- only about 40% of what's needed, so that's a 60% gap," said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "It will set us back if Congress curtails the programs. The good news is we have been able to sustain spending from '09 levels in 2010 and to pursue the same level in 2011, but if they cut it back, we won't be able to do the preservation work that's needed, we won't be able to do the capacity work that's needed."

Brian Turmail, senior director of public affairs for the Associated General Contractors of America, said rolling back federal transportation spending to 2008 levels would be a "double whammy" to the construction industry when combined with the phase-out this year of additional investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

"The last thing anyone in government would want to do is take steps to undermine our economic recovery," he said. "If there is any kind of rollback in transportation investment levels, you'd see the construction unemployment numbers get even worse."

GOP Group Calls for Elimination of Amtrak, Rail, Transit Grants

Separately Thursday, the Republican Study Committee, an antispending group within the House Republican Conference, unveiled its proposal to save more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years through spending cuts. That committee's proposal would cut nonsecurity discretionary spending beginning next fiscal year back to Fiscal Year 2006 levels.

The group proposes to end federal subsides to Amtrak and cancel federal spending on intercity and high-speed rail projects as well as new mass-transit lines. Other reduction targets include many education programs, national and community service programs, and Community Development Block Grants.

According to numbers supplied by the Republican Study Committee, the proposal would eliminate roughly $1.6 billion a year in Amtrak grants, $2 billion a year in "New Starts" transit grants, and $2.5 billion a year in intercity and high-speed rail grants.