[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1124 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1124

 Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2013 for the TIGER 
          Discretionary Grant program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 13, 2013

Ms. Waters (for herself, Ms. Bass, Mr. Honda, Mr. Hastings of Florida, 
Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Wilson 
 of Florida, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Rush, Ms. Norton, Ms. Brown of Florida, 
Mr. Rangel, Mr. Payne, Mr. Clay, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Cicilline, 
Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Hahn, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mrs. Negrete McLeod, Mr. 
Pocan, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Edwards, Mr. McDermott, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Jackson 
 Lee, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Ms. Pingree of Maine, 
  Mr. Lewis, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Huffman, Mr. 
 Sires, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Heck 
of Washington, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Keating, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. 
 Schiff, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Hinojosa, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Higgins, 
   Mr. Delaney, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Brownley of 
  California, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Quigley, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Watt, Ms. 
   Slaughter, Mr. Enyart, Mr. Ellison, and Ms. Meng) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, 
  and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2013 for the TIGER 
          Discretionary Grant program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``TIGER Grants for Job Creation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The economy is struggling to recover from the 
        recession. The unemployment rate is nearly 8 percent nationwide 
        and is even higher in minority and disadvantaged communities.
            (2) The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2009 Report 
        Card for America's Infrastructure estimated that there is a 
        $549,500,000,000 shortfall in investments in roads and bridges 
        and an additional $190,100,000,000 shortfall in investments in 
        transit.
            (3) TIGER, formally known as the Transportation Investment 
        Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, is a 
        nationwide competitive grant program that creates jobs by 
        funding investments in transportation infrastructure by States, 
        local governments, and transit agencies.
            (4) TIGER funds projects that will have a significant 
        impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region.
            (5) In distributing grants under TIGER, the Secretary of 
        Transportation is required to ensure an equitable geographic 
        distribution of funds, a balance in addressing the needs of 
        urban and rural areas, and investments in a variety of modes of 
        transportation.
            (6) Past appropriations for TIGER are not sufficient to 
        address the need for investments in transportation 
        infrastructure in communities throughout the United States as 
        the amounts only fund a small fraction of the transportation 
        infrastructure projects for which TIGER grant applications have 
        been received.
            (7) TIGER received an appropriation of $500,000,000 in 
        fiscal year 2012.
            (8) The President requested an appropriation of 
        $500,000,000 for TIGER in fiscal year 2013.
            (9) The Secretary of Transportation has been unable to 
        organize a competition for TIGER grants in 2013 due to the 
        uncertainty surrounding sequestration and fiscal year 2013 
        appropriations.
            (10) Restricting appropriations for TIGER through the use 
        of arbitrary budget caps or sequestration undermines economic 
        recovery and job creation efforts; disrupts planning by States, 
        local governments, and transit agencies; and leaves critical 
        infrastructure needs unmet.
            (11) Emergency supplemental appropriations for TIGER, 
        provided in addition to other appropriations and not subject to 
        sequestration, will improve transportation infrastructure and 
        create jobs throughout the United States without reducing 
        funding for other domestic priorities.
            (12) An emergency supplemental appropriation of 
        $500,000,000 for TIGER to be made available in fiscal year 2013 
        and an additional emergency supplemental appropriation of 
        $500,000,000 to be made available in fiscal year 2014 will 
        allow the Secretary of Transportation to begin immediately to 
        organize new competitions for TIGER grants and allow States, 
        local governments, and transit agencies to prepare grant 
        applications, thus ensuring an efficient use of funds and 
        timely job creation.

SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR TIGER DISCRETIONARY GRANT 
              PROGRAM.

    The following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for fiscal year 2013:

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

                        Office of the Secretary

                  national infrastructure investments

    For an additional amount for ``National Infrastructure 
Investments'' in accordance with the provisions under this heading in 
title I of division C of Public Law 112-55, $1,000,000,000, of which 
$500,000,000 shall become available on the date of the enactment of 
this section, and $500,000,000 shall become available on October 1, 
2013: Provided, That the amount under this heading shall remain 
available until September 30, 2014: Provided further, That the amount 
under this heading is designated by the Congress as an emergency 
requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and 
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, except that such amount shall be 
available only if the President subsequently so designates such amount 
and transmits such designation to the Congress.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FROM SEQUESTRATION.

    The appropriation in section 3 shall be exempt from any 
sequestration under section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901a).
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