The House voted 221-202 to approve the $447 billion conference report for HR 3288, which contains five other spending bills that also have not been enacted even though the current fiscal year began Oct. 1. The Senate is expected to consider the report over the weekend.

Overall, the 2010 spending bill for the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development provides $122.1 billion, a 12 percent increase from last fiscal year. That amount includes $67.9 billion in budget authority, up from $55 billion provided in FY 2009.

The conference report would provide the following amounts for selected key transportation programs:

• $41.1 billion for federal-aid highways plus an additional $650 million from the General Fund
• $10.7 billion for mass transit
• $3.5 billion for airports
• $2.9 billion for modernizing air-traffic control
• $2.5 billion for high-speed rail and intercity passenger rail, $1.5 billion above the president's original request. This money is in addition to the $8 billion appropriated in the recovery act.
• $1.6 billion for Amtrak
• $873 million for highway safety
• $600 million for competitive grants to support significant transportation projects in a wide variety of modes (similar to a $1.5 billion grant program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Projects that support investments in inland ports and freight rail will be favored.

Overall, the U.S. DOT funding level is about 10 percent higher than it was in FY 2009.

Conferees declined to provide funding to start a national infrastructure bank, as President Barack Obama had requested. A statement from the House and Senate appropriations committees noted, "Due to the complexity of this proposal, it should be considered through the regular authorization process."

Amtrak Instructed to Permit Weapons; Larger Trucks Will Be Allowed in Maine & Vermont

The report retains a Senate-passed amendment requiring Amtrak to allow its passengers to transport firearms in their checked luggage. Amtrak will have one year to implement the provision or it will lose its federal funding. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-MS, sponsored the amendment.

"This is an important victory for sportsmen and gun owners across the country, and it affirms congressional support of the Second Amendment," Wicker said in a statement Wednesday. "Airline passengers in our country are allowed to transport firearms in secure, checked baggage when declared during the check-in process. Law-abiding gun owners who choose to travel on America's taxpayer-subsidized rail line should be given the same right."

Wicker predicted Amtrak might see an uptick in ridership as more hunters ride trains once their firearms are permitted to be checked.

Another Senate amendment was retained by the conference committee. Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, was able to keep her language exempting trucks in maine from certain federal highway weight limits. Maine allows trucks of up to 100,000 pounds, but Congress has previously allowed a maximum weight of 80,000 pounds on interstate highways. Kevin Kelley, a spokesman for Collins, said this disparity causes large trucks to divert to side roads, passing through small towns instead of bypassing them on the interstate.

The exemption was expanded to include Vermont as well at the request of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT.

The 234-page section of the conference report containing transportation and housing appropriations is available at tinyurl.com/ConfRptTHUD10.