[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24249-24280]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3074, which the clerk will 
report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3074) making appropriations for the 
     Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban 
     Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2008, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Coburn amendment No. 2812, to remove an unnecessary earmark 
     for the International Peace Garden in Dunseith, ND.
       Coburn amendment No. 2813, to ensure that no funds made 
     available under this act shall be used to carry out any 
     activity relating to the design or construction of the 
     America's Wetland Center in Lake Charles, LA, until the date 
     on which the Secretary, in consultation with the 
     Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 
     the State of Louisiana, certifies to Congress that all 
     residents of the State of Louisiana who were displaced as a 
     result of Hurricane Katrina or Rita in 2005 are no longer 
     living in temporary housing.
       Coburn amendment No. 2814, to prohibit the use of funds for 
     the construction of a baseball facility in Billings, MT, and 
     to reduce the amounts made available for the Economic 
     Development Initiative and the community development fund.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there 
will be 20 minutes of debate with respect to the DeMint amendment, with 
the time equally divided between Senator DeMint and Senator Kennedy.
  The Senator from South Carolina is recognized.


                           Amendment No. 2844

  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2844.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. DeMint] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 2844.

  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

 (Purpose: To provide a system for better construction and maintenance 
   of America's aging bridge infrastructure by spending American tax 
               dollars more effectively and efficiently)

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. NONAPPLICATION OF PROVISIONS.

       None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to 
     implement the provisions, or make payments subject to the 
     provisions, of subchapter IV of part A of chapter 31 of title 
     40, United States Code, with respect to a contract for the 
     construction or maintenance of any bridge which, as of the 
     date of enactment of this Act, is classified under the 
     Federal Highway Administration's bridge inspection program as 
     ``structurally deficient'' or ``functionally obsolete''.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Carolina is 
recognized.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for the opportunity 
to speak on my amendment. I do have an amendment to the Transportation 
bill that I would like to talk about for a few minutes this morning.

[[Page 24250]]

  I have listened to a lot of the debate this week. Obviously, 
transportation is a key issue for this country, and it has become clear 
that because of the tragedy in Minnesota, many of us are concerned 
about bridges and those that are deficient. We have talked a lot about 
how to fund those, and I am afraid, as Congress often does, we ignore a 
serious problem until it is too late, and then we decide we want to 
throw a lot of money at it and we come riding in on white horses to fix 
the problem.
  I think we do need to look at the problem and what we can do at the 
Federal level, and I have an amendment that I think will make the 
dollars we spend go a lot further that I would like to present to 
Members this morning. But, first, I think we need to review a little of 
the situation we are in.
  I think we have all heard in the debate that America has many bridges 
we have deemed structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. My 
amendment addresses these particular bridges. There are over 150,000 
bridges in the country today--or over 20 percent of our total bridges--
that fall under the classification of structurally deficient and 
functionally obsolete.
  Every day in this country, right now, people are going to work and 
filling up their gas tanks. Over 18 cents of every gallon they put in 
their tanks is a Federal tax that comes to us. That tax was actually 
started many years ago when we wanted to build the Interstate Highway 
System in this country. It started at a much lower level. I think most 
of us know the Interstate Highway System is basically complete. Yet we 
have continued to take that tax and raise it over the years. So what we 
are doing is taking money from the States and bringing it to 
Washington. The problem is that very little of that actually gets back 
for the maintenance of bridges in our States.
  To start off with, a lot of States, the majority of States in this 
country, don't get back what they send. We call them donor States. 
South Carolina is one of the donor States. We will send our tax to 
Washington and, for years, we have gotten back less than 90 cents on a 
dollar. This clearly hurts our State. But what does come back comes 
back with a lot of red tape and regulations that prevent the dollars 
from going as far as they could.
  What has happened in South Carolina and many other States is that in 
order to get those Federal dollars back, we have had to match them with 
our State dollars. For years, we have taken money out of our 
maintenance funds for roads and bridges and used it to match the 
Federal dollars. But the Federal dollars have to be used in particular 
ways that are not necessarily for the maintenance of roads and bridges. 
Even more important are all of the earmarks we put in the 
Transportation bill, earmarks for bridges to nowhere or a Big Dig in 
Boston, and these earmarks usually have to be matched at a higher level 
to get those dollars, and they have to then be used in the way the 
earmark prescribes.
  We have looked through a lot of past bills and found very few 
earmarks that are to maintain and improve bridges. They are for new 
projects and things on which we can do press releases. But the bottom 
line is this: Less than 40 cents on a dollar that we send to Washington 
actually ends up helping to maintain roads and bridges. That is a 
problem.
  Now, there are a lot of things we can do, and I have identified one I 
would like us to focus on today. It is the old law called the Davis-
Bacon provision. It actually started during the Depression, when many 
companies were hungry to get business, and so they sharpened their 
pencils and gave lower bids to cities, and the larger companies didn't 
like that. So they created the Davis-Bacon law, which actually allows 
the Federal Government to set the wages of companies when they are 
doing Federal work.
  What happens in most parts of the country, such as South Carolina, 
when a small company--perhaps a minority-owned company--may be trying 
to compete with a large company, they will come in with a lower bid, 
but then they have to allow the Federal Government to set the wages. We 
call it prevailing wages, but it may not be the prevailing wage in 
South Carolina. The American Association of Builders and Contractors 
has estimated that the Davis-Bacon provision raises the cost of 
construction from 5 percent to 38 percent. Just think of that. Think of 
that money and how it could be multiplied if that provision was not 
part of the equation for maintaining and getting these obsolete and 
structurally deficient bridges in better order.
  That is what this amendment is about. It is not an unprecedented 
idea. President Bush realized during Katrina that we had to do a lot of 
work and get a lot of firms in action--small firms. All these firms 
have already worked out the salaries with their employees. Some may be 
revenue sharing and not related to salary. But as long as Davis-Bacon 
is in order, those firms have to wait for the Federal Government to 
tell them what to pay their employees so they can then bid a job. It 
slows the whole process. So during Katrina, the President waived it, 
and during Hurricane Andrew, after that we waived the Davis-Bacon 
provision so that the money could go further and the rebuilding could 
take place quicker.
  My amendment is very simple in that it focuses particularly on 
bridges that have already been designated structurally deficient or 
functionally obsolete. For 1 year only, we waive this Davis-Bacon 
provision so that the States and municipalities around this country can 
take the Federal money that is provided and make it go further to fix 
these bridges--to build new ones in some cases--and to allow them to 
move quicker and not wait for some Federal bureaucrat to tell them what 
to pay their employees in order to get a job from the city.
  Anyone in business, particularly in the construction-related 
business, knows that it sometimes is feast or famine; you either have 
too much work or you don't have any. Many times, a municipal government 
or State government can get a lot lower bid and get work done much 
quicker if they are allowed to take those low bids. Unfortunately, the 
way we have it set up with Davis-Bacon, we force such a bureaucracy, we 
force these particular salaries on these companies that may have 
different arrangements with their employees, and it slows the whole 
process. Just think--we are talking about a 38-percent increase in 
cost, in some cases, just because of Davis-Bacon.
  So I would encourage my colleagues to consider this amendment. We are 
not talking about getting rid of Davis-Bacon forever, although I think 
that is something we should perhaps consider. But this is just a 1-year 
waiving of Davis-Bacon specifically for the repair and maintenance of 
structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges. If we do 
this, I think the public will get a lot more for their tax dollars, we 
will get this work done a lot quicker, and it makes a whole lot more 
sense than raising the Federal gas tax. That is kind of the way 
Congress does things--we have a problem, so let's just raise taxes and 
spend more money. In this case, we have about $4 for every $10 we spend 
that doesn't go to what we say it does. If we can do a few things, like 
waive Davis-Bacon, the money we take from the public can go a whole lot 
further.
  I encourage Members to vote for this amendment this morning. I hope 
the majority will not table it, because we have seen in Katrina and 
other tragedies that our money goes a lot further, the work gets done 
faster, and our goals as a Congress are met a lot sooner.
  Mr. President, I thank the chairwoman for the time, and I yield the 
floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts is 
recognized.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Washington for 
giving me an opportunity to make a response to the Senator from South 
Carolina on this issue of prevailing wage that guides the wage for 
Federal construction.
  This idea and concept goes back to the 1930s--1931. What is the 
prevailing wage? It is effectively the local average wage. Why was this 
decided, that we

[[Page 24251]]

are going to have the average wage? Because it was decided then, with a 
Republican Congress, a Republican Congress and Republican President, 
that we do not want the Federal Government interfering with what is 
happening in local community wages. If they are going to be less in 
South Carolina than they are in Massachusetts, they ought to use the 
local prevailing wage.
  Is this complicated? No, it is not complicated at all. All you have 
to do is go look on the Web and find out what the prevailing wage is in 
South Carolina and what it is in Boston, MA. This was the basic 
concept.
  What has been the result of having the prevailing wage? The 
prevailing wage gives assurances to families. The Federal highway 
system was such an extraordinary national system developed and proposed 
by President Eisenhower. It has meant all the difference to the 
American economy. What the Davis-Bacon program is saying is we are 
going to pay the average wage to workers under the Davis-Bacon program, 
but those individuals who are going in those programs, by and large, 
almost all of them, have gone through various apprenticeship programs 
and are skilled workers. That is why the University of Utah study of 
nine southwestern and mountain States has pointed out that the cost of 
using Davis-Bacon was actually cheaper, less costly to the taxpayer 
than it would have been if they had not had prevailing wages. An 
analysis of Federal Highway Administration data in 2004 reached a 
similar conclusion--that states paying higher wages had lower highway 
construction costs and higher labor productivity.
  We want to make sure that when we have our highways and bridges, they 
are going to be safe and they are going to be secure and they are going 
to be made by those individuals who have the skills to do the job and 
do it right and do it well and do it for the protection of American 
families, whether it is the workers who drive in to work or the 
children who come back in the various buses from schools all over the 
community. That is what we are talking about--skilled work, competent 
work, on-time work done by people who have training and follow a very 
important tradition. These people are out there working night and day; 
in the cold of the winter working out there at night, and in the day in 
the heat of the summer.
  What is the average wage we are talking about in this whole debate? 
The median construction wage in this country is $35,000. Does that seem 
so outrageous, for someone who has a skill, $35,000? Are we going to 
try to say with all of the challenges and problems we have in our 
transportation system, this $35,000 is so much we want to try to reduce 
those wages for working men and women in this country? Is this so 
outrageous, with the challenges we have seen, in terms of what people 
are being paid in the United States of America today? Of course not.
  This is a very dangerous industry. More men and women are killed in 
construction than in any other industry. Do you hear me? More men and 
women are killed in construction than in any other industry. Three 
times more men and women are killed in construction than the national 
average for other industries, and for some of those who are building 
bridges, it's even more dangerous. The fatality rate for structural 
iron and steel workers is 13 times more than the average industry. 
These are high-risk jobs and we are talking about paying people $35,000 
a year? In terms of the important issues we are facing, it makes no 
sense.
  We want to make sure that when the Federal taxpayer dollar is 
expended, it is going to get quality work, it is going to get 
productivity, it is going to get results, it is going to have 
accountability. That is what Davis-Bacon has provided over the period 
of years.
  Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 5\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY. To show what the difference is in terms of prevailing 
wages for local workers, for ironworkers in Greene, AL, the prevailing 
wage is $13.67 per hour. An ironworker in Greene, AL makes $21,872 a 
year. For ironworkers in Denver, CO, the prevailing wage is $22.50, 
annually $36,000. In Des Moines, ironworkers make $20.60 an hour; 
$32,960 per year. The average wage in El Paso is $12.03 an hour; they 
make $19,248, $19,248 a year. Are we trying to say in Texas, in El 
Paso, we are going to try to undermine individual workers who are 
making $19,000? By and large most of them are skilled workers who have 
had apprenticeship programs. Is this the greatest challenge we are 
facing in our transportation system? No, it is not.
  The list goes on. This chart here shows construction is one of the 
most dangerous industries, with over 1,100 fatalities and over 410,000 
work-related injuries. This is a dangerous industry and that is why it 
is so important we have programs, apprenticeship programs to teach 
these workers their skills but also teach them safety and security.
  Regarding the injuries, prevailing wage laws lower construction 
injuries by 10 to 20 percent. If you have prevailing wages, if they are 
put into place, the number of individuals who are going to be involved 
in injuries, death, and serious injuries is actually reduced. Why? 
Because these workers have skills and have better training. More 
injuries mean higher workers' compensation costs. Without the Federal 
prevailing wage, workers would suffer up to 76,000 additional injuries 
leading to 675,000 more lost workdays.
  This hasn't been an issue that has been a partisan issue. When this 
was passed in 1931, author James Davis was a Republican Senator and 
Robert Bacon, another author, was a Republican from the House of 
Representatives. It was a Republican House majority that passed it. The 
Republican Senate passed the bill, and Republican President Herbert 
Hoover signed the bill into law.
  It is very simple. This is necessary because of the importance of 
having high-skilled work being done on the bridges and roads of this 
country. The American taxpayer's dollar is a scarce dollar. We ought to 
make sure it is not going to be used by fly-by-night operations. We 
want to make sure those people who are going to receive it are going to 
have the skills and training to make sure the roads and bridges are 
going to be safe and secure. That is what Davis-Bacon does. It takes 
into consideration what the local wages are. Prevailing wages are 
published on the Internet. It is easy for any of the construction 
companies to understand it. They all understand it. We don't get 
complaints that they don't understand it. It is just in many instances 
they would rather get fly-by-night operations.
  If you look at the various studies that have been done, time in and 
time out, about prevailing wages, whether it is from the University of 
Utah--not a flaming liberal kind of university--looking at the western 
States, when they had the prevailing wage versus not having the 
prevailing wage, they show that using the prevailing wage actually 
resulted in the savings of taxpayer resources.
  I hope this amendment will not be accepted. We have a tried and true 
system. We are talking about people, as I mentioned earlier, whose 
median income is $35,000. It is not excessive. It is difficult to make 
a good living today, $35,000 today, when you look at the cost of health 
care, the cost of tuition, the cost of the gasoline, the cost of 
heating oil--if you live in our part of the country, $35,000 doesn't go 
a long way.
  It does seem we want to make sure American taxpayers are going to get 
what their hard-earned taxes have been collected for and make sure they 
are going to be expended for skilled work. Davis-Bacon gives that 
assurance to working families.
  I see the Senator from Washington. I don't know how much time I have, 
but I yield the remaining time to her.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, how much time remains?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. One minute remains.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for his 
discussion

[[Page 24252]]

of the current pending DeMint amendment. It seems to me it is our 
responsibility to make sure our people who are working on these 
critically important infrastructure improvements are paid a prevailing 
wage and given the opportunity to care for their families as they care 
for all of us.
  Mr. President, at this point we yield back all of our time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. DeMINT. How much time do I have remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. One minute remains.
  Mr. DeMINT. I appreciate the debate. I think it is important to have. 
Davis-Bacon does not make sites safer. It does not have anything to do 
with skilled workers. What it does is forces particularly small 
companies to revamp how they bid projects, to change how they pay their 
people. The cost of that administration as well as waiting for the 
Federal Government--you can't just go to the Internet. The Federal 
Government is going to have to approve what the prevailing wage is. It 
has been deemed not functional, what is taking place. What we are 
talking about is not a suspension of Davis-Bacon forever, but a 
recognition in the next years we want a lot more dollars to be applied 
to bridge maintenance, and by waiving Davis-Bacon for 1 year our 
dollars will go further and the work will be done quicker.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, Members were notified last night the vote 
would begin at 9:30. We have no additional debate at this time.
  If the Senator from North Carolina has nothing to add, we are going 
to put in a quorum call until 9:30--unless he wishes to make any 
additional comments?
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I think I needed to ask for the yeas and 
nays, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to table the DeMint amendment and 
ask for the yeas and nays.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer), 
the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton), the Senator from Connecticut 
(Mr. Dodd), and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho (Mr. Craig), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), and 
the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 56, nays 37, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 334 Leg.]

                                YEAS--56

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Tester
     Voinovich
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--37

     Alexander
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dole
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Sununu
     Thune
     Vitter
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Boxer
     Clinton
     Craig
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Inouye
     McCain
  The motion was agreed to.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


              Amendments Nos. 2812, 2813, and 2814 En Bloc

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There will now be 2 minutes of 
debate evenly divided before a vote en bloc on amendments 2812 to 2814 
offered by Mr. Coburn of Oklahoma.
  Who yields time?
  The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, this is a block of three amendments. It is 
not a great deal of money, but it certainly will send a message to the 
American people about our priorities. We can build a new visitors 
center in Louisiana, where 7,000 people are still displaced from 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We can add on to a baseball stadium which 
has already run over, and the money is to compensate for the overrun--a 
priority versus building bridges--or we can markedly expand and remodel 
a peace garden on our northern border. I would put forward to the body 
that these are not priorities right now. They are not priorities, when 
our true deficit this year is going to be about $400 billion. We are 
going to charge to it our kids. We have the largest deficit and out-of-
compliance bridges in our history. Yet we are going to make a choice to 
spend money on these rather than higher priorities. The American people 
don't have that luxury with their own budgets. We should not be taking 
that luxury with their money either.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, this is another one of those amendments 
where the bureaucrats know best--don't ask, don't tell. These three 
projects are in Louisiana, Montana, and North Dakota. The International 
Peace Garden, built 75 years ago, is a national treasure between the 
United States and Canada. The buildings are in disrepair. The 
Government of Canada says: We are prepared to make some investments. 
There is a $450,000 earmark, congressionally directed spending, to make 
an investment. The Canadians say they will make investments, but we 
want the Americans to make investments as well. We would not want to 
invest in this national treasure; is that what we have come to? This 
makes no sense at all. My hope is that those who believe the 
bureaucrats will know best about spending will understand this 
amendment is not worthy. These three projects have great merit. I 
believe the Congress will want to fund these projects with modest 
funding. That is what we have done. I hope we will soundly reject the 
amendments offered by the Senator from Oklahoma.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to table the amendments and ask 
for the yeas and nays.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on the motion to table the Coburn amendments en bloc.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer), 
the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton), and the Senator from 
Connecticut (Mr. Dodd) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho (Mr. Craig) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

[[Page 24253]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 63, nays 32, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 335 Leg.]

                                YEAS--63

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Baucus
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Grassley
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Tester
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--32

     Allard
     Barrasso
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Coleman
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Sununu
     Thune

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Boxer
     Clinton
     Craig
     Dodd
     McCain
  The motion was agreed to.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BOND. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                       section 8 housing payments

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, over the last 3 months a majority of 
project-based section 8 housing had payment disruptions with HUD not 
making timely payments under its contractual obligations to the owners 
of the housing facilities. As of the end of August, 50 facilities had 
not received payments just in my State of Iowa. The payments not 
received cover 2,466 apartments. Twenty-two percent of those projects 
were designated as ``family projects,'' and 78 percent are elderly or 
disabled projects or a combination of the two. Some of those facilities 
were still waiting for their June and July payments when the August 
payments failed to arrive.
  As of yesterday, I understand that about 20 projects in Iowa which 
have reached their contract expiration date at the end of June, July, 
or August still have not seen the routine work to renew the contracts, 
and payments have not been received in Iowa. I expect that Iowa is 
typical of the Nation in this regard.
  The failure to make timely payments not only results in added costs 
to owners, it creates a chill on future investments in low-income 
housing. With that chill, I fear that the number of low-income housing 
units available to families and the elderly in need will be reduced.
  I urge that the committee work to provide for methods and 
requirements as well as financial resources so HUD will provide proper 
timely payments to all project-based section 8 projects in the coming 
fiscal year. I am particularly concerned with the situation that may 
occur if the Congress passes one or more short-term continuing 
resolutions for the beginning of the fiscal year. I would like to work 
with Chairman Murray and Senator Bond to accomplish these goals.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I agree that we have seen serious 
disruptions in payments to project-based section 8 facilities in recent 
months. That has caused real difficulties for many owners. I do believe 
that HUD needs to have processes in place that will make funding to 
project owners in as timely manner as possible. We also need to have 
funding in place where HUD can make its payments. I appreciate the 
Senators' interest in this area, and we will work to avoid a repeat of 
what we have seen over the past 3 months.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I raised this issue on the Senate floor on 
Monday. I certainly believe this is a real difficulty, and I certainly 
believe HUD needs to meet its contractual obligations. I also agree 
that we need to create provisions that will assure that HUD makes its 
housing assistance payments on time.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, earlier today I voted on a motion to 
table an amendment offered by the Senator from Oklahoma to remove three 
earmarks from the Transportation Housing and Urban Development 
appropriations bill. Those projects totaled $1.35 million and were for 
economic development efforts in North Dakota, Montana, and Louisiana.
  This was a difficult decision for me. I believe that the earmarking 
process in the past decade has ballooned out of control at a cost of 
billions of dollars to taxpayers. I don't believe that all earmarks, 
per se, are bad, but that as a general policy, we need more 
transparency in this process, and I believe that competitive and 
formula grants are a better way to assure that taxpayer dollars are 
spent appropriately.
  However, I am uncomfortable with cherry-picking which earmarks are 
worthy and which ones are wasteful. There were dozens and dozens of 
earmarks totaling tens of millions of dollars in this bill. Why pick on 
just three?
  I, however, did support an amendment to take money designated for all 
of the earmarked transportation projects in this bill and transfer it 
to fund national urgent priorities such as emergency bridge repairs.
  This will be a long process to cut down, and even eliminate, many 
congressional earmarks and other kinds of Government waste. Frankly, 
earmarks are just the easiest and most obvious target. Billions of 
dollars are spent every year by the Federal Government on no-bid 
contracts, for example. And we are nowhere near preventing this 
wasteful pattern of spending.
  But progress is being made on the earmark front. Congress passed a 
comprehensive ethics bill that provides more transparency in the 
earmark process. Due to pressure from the American public demanding 
change, we have seen fewer earmarks in this year's appropriations bill. 
According to the administration's Office of Management and Budget, this 
very Transportation-HUD bill contains half the amount of earmarks 
compared to its last version from 2006.
  However, there is still much work to be done, and as a fiscal 
conservative and former auditor, I will continue my efforts to fight to 
change the way the Federal Government does business with taxpayers' 
dollars--whether it is Congress or the administration.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise to speak about two important 
issues addressed in this bill.
  Thank you, Mr. President, and I would like to thank Senators Murray 
and Bond for their leadership on this bill. This bill will make America 
safer and stronger by improving our transportation and housing 
infrastructure.
  First, I would like to discuss the need for FAA modernization. My 
amendment would convey the sense of the Senate on the issue of FAA 
modernization. For too long, the FAA has been derelict in its duty on 
this important aspect of public safety.
  Something is wrong when the thousands of everyday Americans with GPS 
devices in their cars are working off what appear to be more modern 
navigation systems than the FAA.
  My amendment makes clear that this delay in implementing a modern air 
traffic control system threatens both the safety of our air passengers 
and the economy by delaying thousands of business and recreational 
passengers each day.
  This amendment makes clear that the FAA must act now and fully 
implement the modernization system using the resources allocated in 
this bill to keep our skies safe.
  The committee took a significant step forward in this bill by 
providing hundreds of millions of dollars for modernization. I thank 
them for their commitment to this issue, and now it is time for the FAA 
to step up to the plate and do their share.
  We should urge the FAA to move as quickly as possible in implementing 
the modernization system to finally put an end to the endless delays 
and dangerous near misses on our Nation's runways and in our skies.

[[Page 24254]]

  Next, I would like to discuss the subprime crisis in the Senate about 
the need to assist the many families facing foreclosure as their 
subprime loans reset to unaffordable levels.
  I have been studying this issue for some time. The mortgage industry 
has become the Wild West, and far too many homeowners have gotten 
caught up in the teaser-rate promises of subprime mortgages only to be 
devastated when they reset to higher, unaffordable levels.
  I have concluded that one of the best tools we have in helping to 
avoid this upcoming wave of foreclosures is the efforts of nonprofit 
organizations specializing in foreclosure avoidance and homeowner 
counseling.
  So I would like to thank Senators Murray and Bond for responding to 
my request for additional resources by allocating $100 million for 
those nonprofits to assist homeowners who are facing foreclosures. An 
estimated 2 million mortgages are scheduled to reset to higher interest 
rates in the next 12 months. This will mean a devastatingly high number 
of foreclosures, unless major action is taken.
  But because there are so many distressed homeowners right now, the 
nonprofits are overwhelmed. Some have already received more calls for 
help this year than they did all of last year, and things are likely to 
get worse before they get better. The non-profits simply do not have 
the resources to deal with this crisis. The home mortgage market is in 
a state of emergency, and these nonprofits are our best-equipped first 
responders. We ought to lend them a hand.
  This investment will pay for itself many times over, through the 
avoidance of foreclosures and the pain and suffering they cost this 
country, both in economic and noneconomic terms.
  But government alone cannot solve this problem. It will require a 
major commitment by others as well, particularly those banks and 
mortgage servicers which have the ability, through loan modifications 
and refinancings, to help homeowners avoid foreclosures. These lenders 
and servicers made plenty of money while the housing markets were good, 
and I believe it is time for them to pitch in to help avoid the 
consequences of their actions, which contributed to this current 
crisis.
  This is why I have asked the country's major mortgage lenders and 
mortgage servicers to increase their efforts to help subprime borrowers 
avoid foreclosure. I have also asked them to also provide monetary 
commitments to the nonprofits, which everyone acknowledges are key to 
solving this problem.
  For the millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes, these 
nonprofits can provide shelter from the foreclosure storm.
  This is a bipartisan solution to a bipartisan problem.
  I am encouraged that my colleague, Senator Bond, agrees that we need 
more resources devoted to this problem. I agree that $100 million more 
dollars is a good thing. I am concerned, however, that the conditions 
put on this money may restrict its most beneficial uses. I want to be 
sure that all the funds we dedicate are used to help keep every family 
possible in their homes, and I look forward to continuing to work with 
the committee to ensure that the funds in this amendment can do just 
that.
  This subprime crisis is a danger to the housing market and the market 
as a whole, and efforts and resources at all levels of government and 
in the private sector should be devoted to alleviating this ongoing 
problem.
  Finally, I would like to applaud my friend and colleague, Senator 
Murray, whose leadership and determination were instrumental in getting 
$1 billion of additional funding for bridge replacement and 
rehabilitation.
  This amendment addresses what we have known for far too long--we have 
been neglecting our infrastructure for far too long.
  The disaster in Minnesota was a wake-up call to get our Nation's 
transportation infrastructure in order. For far too long, highways and 
bridges in New York and across the country have been allowed to degrade 
to the point of dangerous disrepair.
  As I have said before after similar disasters, we must learn from 
them and fix the problems that caused them. We can no longer afford to 
neglect our aging highways and bridges in older cities.
  This amendment goes a long way in learning from this disaster and 
fixing serious problems in our Nation's infrastructure. I commend 
Senator Murray for her leadership.
  I was proud to be a cosponsor of this amendment and look forward to 
working with Senator Murray on further projects in the future.
  I look forward to working with the committee on my amendments and to 
finishing this bill which represents, for the first time in a long 
time, the resources our country needs to support its infrastructure, 
transportation and housing positions.
  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)
 Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, this Transportation/HUD 
appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 crafted under the leadership 
of Chairman Patty Murray makes key investments in our Nation's highway 
systems, aviation system, passenger rail, and provides housing services 
for those in need, the elderly and our veterans.
  This legislation allocates over $100 billion for the Department of 
Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, and for 
Housing and Urban Development. According to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, for every $1 billion that is spent on transportation, 
47,500 jobs are created. In this legislation over $40 billion is 
invested in our Nation's highway system for construction of new roads, 
repairs and improvements. This legislation will create tens of 
thousands of new jobs, improve safety to our highways and bridges--and 
will go a long ways to strengthen and grow our Nation's economy.
  I am proud that my Senate colleagues voted to include $1 billion in 
Federal funding to aid in the repair and maintenance of America's 
bridges, which would include an additional $100 million for New York 
State's aging bridges. The bridge collapse in Minnesota is a sober 
reminder of the tragic results that can occur when our infrastructure 
needs are not met. New York State has more than 17,000 highway bridges, 
with 12 percent classified as structurally deficient, and 26 percent 
classified as functionally obsolete and this additional funding is 
vital to my State of New York.
  Several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle sought to 
pass an amendment that would have repealed Davis-Bacon protections for 
construction workers involved in bridge reconstruction on structurally 
deficient bridges--an act that puts both our workers and our Nation at 
risk. I was disappointed by this attempt to undermine our workers' 
safety, and heartened that the bill does not contain this amendment. 
The tragic collapse of a major highway bridge in Minneapolis this year 
illustrates just how critical it is for our roads and bridges to be 
constructed with the safest and highest quality workmanship.
  Year after year the administration has attempted to bankrupt Amtrak. 
And again, I am proud that the Senate has rejected the President's 
proposal that would have pushed Amtrak into bankruptcy. Amtrak plays a 
vital role in our Nation's transportation system, especially for New 
Yorkers and those along the Northeast corridor. In an era of record gas 
prices, congested highways, and record delays and congestion for the 
flying public, the role of Amtrak has become more important and it must 
receive the necessary funding to continue services and improve railway 
infrastructure.
  This legislation also contains vital funding for the Federal Aviation 
Administration, including much needed funding to pay for infrastructure 
needs at airports throughout New York, as well as funding for new 
technology to reduce delays and congestion at our Nation's airports. 
This summer, the flying public has seen record delays at our airports 
and it is imperative that we resolve this problem as soon as possible. 
I am proud that the Senate

[[Page 24255]]

unanimously confirmed my bipartisan amendment requiring the Department 
of Transportation to develop a plan how the FAA will alleviate 
congestion and delays in the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia airspace 
by next summer.
  In addition to the funding for Transportation, this legislation 
provides desperately needed funds for more affordable housing and would 
provide housing for our homeless veterans, the elderly, and those in 
need. This legislation provides over $2 billion more than the 
President's request for programs under Housing and Urban Development. 
The legislation rejects the Bush administration's cuts to housing for 
the low-income elderly, as well as the administration's plan to 
eliminate Hope VI, a program that revitalizes neighborhoods by 
replacing outdated public housing in disrepair with new mixed-income 
housing.
  We still have work to do to improve our transportation systems. 
Airport delays in just a few years will cost our economy more than $30 
billion every year and nationwide, poor road conditions and traffic 
congestion cost American drivers more than $110 billion each year in 
wasted fuel and lost time. There is a more than $1.6 trillion long-term 
infrastructure gap to fill--as a nation--we need to invest in our 
future again. I urge the President to remove his veto threat and sign 
this legislation into law as quickly as possible so that these needed 
funds can be used to improve our Nation's aging infrastructure as 
quickly as possible.
 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, the bill before us is a budget 
buster. It is over $3 billion above the President's budget request and 
contains numerous earmarked projects, worth over $2 billion. It should 
be soundly rejected.
  Funding for transportation infrastructure and transportation safety 
is of enormous importance and I know all of us support doing what we 
can to improve our Nation's transportation system, from our roads and 
bridges to our air service. The tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota in 
August was a harsh reminder of just how critical our responsibilities 
are to balance competing transportation funding needs. But we simply 
must do so in a fiscally responsible manner. The Senate's action Monday 
to increase the obligation limitation for the highway trust fund by $1 
billion is not the answer nor was it responsible. It might have been 
politically expedient, but it is not the answer.
  We cannot afford to simply spend more and more of taxpayers' hard-
earned dollars without consequences. It is time for Congress to start 
making choices among competing priorities, just as American families do 
each month with their family budgets. In this bill, we are not 
underfunding transportation; we are misdirecting infrastructure funding 
to earmarked projects that are questionable and certainly not urgently 
needed.
  According to the Reason Foundation's 16th Annual Highway Performance 
Report, 24 percent of our Nation's bridges were deficient or obsolete 
in 2005. Minnesota actually ranked 5th best in the Nation, yet we 
watched with horror as one of the State's major thoroughfares crumbled 
from disrepair. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 22, 2007, 
that a week before the bridge collapse, a Congressman from Minnesota 
inserted over $10 million in earmarks for rail transit, bike trails and 
the ``Kids Peace Mesabi Academy,'' but not a penny for bridge or 
infrastructure repair.
  In addition to our aging bridges, our Interstate Highway System is 
over 50 years old and not equipped to handle today's traffic levels. So 
what has Congress done in response to this reality? We have increased 
earmarking of our highway program funding by a staggering level: The 
1982 highway bill included 10 demonstration projects totaling $386 
million; the 1987 highway bill included 152 demonstration projects 
totaling $1.4 billion; the 1991 highway bill included 538 location-
specific projects totaling $6.1 billion; the 1998 highway bill included 
1,850 earmarked projects totaling $9.3 billion; and the 2005 highway 
bill included over 5,634 earmarked projects totaling $21.6 billion.
  So instead of allowing states the ability to allocate their highway 
dollars to their most pressing needs, like deficient bridges, we are 
funding a significantly higher level of bike paths and highway 
beautification projects and sidewalk improvements. When will we learn? 
When will we learn that this is not what the American people want or 
deserve from their elected representatives. How many more 
infrastructure tragedies will occur before we change our earmarking 
ways?
  Instead of raising the gas taxes, as some Members of Congress have 
suggested, for the millions of Americans who are already paying more 
for gas than ever before, the Federal and State governments must 
prioritize transportation spending to focus on projects with the most 
need rather than building ``bridges to nowhere.'' If Congress fails to 
recover from its addiction to earmarks, then crumbling bridges, 
congested highways, and crowded airports will continue much to the 
detriment of all Americans.
  Congress recently passed an ethics reform bill that requires the 
disclosure of the authorship of earmarks. Ninety-one Members of this 
body requested transportation earmarks in this appropriations bill. For 
example, this bill contains $4 million for a bridge in Arkansas that 
does not appear in the Arkansas State transportation improvement plan, 
thereby questioning its necessity. The bill also includes almost $2 
million for a study on the effects of dust suppressant chemicals on 
Federal highways, $2 million above the administration's request for 
volcano monitoring in Alaska, and $2 million to prevent the frequent U 
turns at the gates of the Los Alamos labs in New Mexico.
  Of course, the bill includes a wide range of transportation earmarks. 
The bill also contains $8 million for airport improvements to Cape Cod 
and Nantucket, $2.5 million for improvements at the Niagara Falls 
International Airport, and $1.5 million for improvements at the airport 
in Palm Springs, CA. No doubt these popular tourist destinations could 
have helped to pay for these improvements themselves rather then 
requiring all taxpayers to subsidize such marvelous destinations that 
many taxpayers may never be able to afford to visit.
  The bill also provides $3.5 million to construct an airport in 
Akutan, AK--population 767--when an alternative airport is less than 55 
miles away and $1 million for airport improvements at Lewis University, 
IL, for its 1,000 students. There are also earmarks for ferry service, 
such as $1 million for Nassau County, NY, which is the sixth richest 
county in the Nation. Again, taxpayers nationwide must support and 
sustain these projects despite their use by a few.
  The underlying bill provides funding for the Department of 
Transportation's 1-year pilot program that would allow a maximum of 100 
Mexican trucks to enter and travel to a single destination in the 
United States this year. This pilot program is the result of planning 
and preparation over the past 14 years. NAFTA, passed by Congress in 
1993 and signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, mandated the 
opening of our southern border to Mexican trucking operations. Congress 
set forth stringent preconditions for opening the border in section 350 
of the fiscal year 2002 transportation appropriations bill, and DOT 
complied with all 22 of those requirements. The Inspector General has 
reported five times that the Department has substantially met those 
safety requirements. It is now time to allow these two countries to 
move forward with this 1-year pilot program that will have numerous 
economic benefits for the two nations. Unfortunately, the Senate has 
voted 74 to 24 to prevent the pilot from going forward. As such, we 
continue to fall short of abiding by the obligations we committed to 
when we approved NAFTA.
  In addition to my concerns with the transportation title, this bill 
provides more than $3 billion above the President's budget request for 
the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Like previous years, 
the accompanying report contains an enormous number of earmarks in the 
Economic Development Initiative and neighborhood initiative accounts to 
the tune of

[[Page 24256]]

more than 300 earmarks totaling nearly $300 million.
  Again, I would like to express my disappointment that Senate 
leadership has brought to the floor a bill that is $3 billion over the 
administration's request containing hundreds of earmarks. Rightly, the 
administration has announced that the President will veto this bill 
unless its price tag is reduced. That is the correct action.
  During my recent travels around the Nation, I hear again and again 
from citizens who are fed up with pork barrel spending and yet, 
Congress fails to listen. It is a shame, and I can only hope that the 
American people will join me in expressing their displeasure with this 
bill.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased to support passage of the 
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill for 
fiscal year 2008. This bill provides critical funding for many of our 
Nation's essential programs, including housing for low-income families, 
community and economic development programs, and transportation needs.
  Affordable housing is becoming less, not more, available in the 
United States. Research shows that the number of families facing severe 
housing cost burdens grew by almost 2 million households between 2001 
and 2004. Additionally, one in three families spends more than 30 
percent of its earnings on housing costs. The National Alliance to End 
Homelessness reports that at least 500,000 Americans are homeless every 
day and 2 million to 3 million Americans are homeless for various 
lengths of time each year. Cities, towns, and rural communities across 
the country are confronting a lack of affordable housing for their 
citizens. This is not an issue that confronts just one region of the 
Nation or one group of Americans. Decent and affordable housing is 
essential to the well-being of Americans, and the Federal Government 
must provide adequate assistance to our citizens to ensure that all 
Americans can afford to live in safe and affordable housing.
  This legislation provides critical funding for the section 8 voucher 
program. The section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, originally 
created in 1974, is now the largest Federal housing program in terms of 
HUD's budget with approximately 2 million vouchers currently 
authorized. Yet the current number of vouchers does not come close to 
meeting the demand that exists in communities around our country. I am 
pleased this Senate bill contains funding for new vouchers for homeless 
veterans and disabled families. This funding for new vouchers is a step 
in the right direction, but Congress needs to do much more to fund the 
section 8 program in the coming months and years to help ensure that 
funding levels for the program meet the demonstrated need for the 
program.
  I am pleased that this bill rejected many of the suggested cuts in 
the President's budget request. This bill provides $100 million for the 
Hope VI program, a program dedicated to rehabilitating our Nation's 
public housing. Many public housing authorities throughout the country, 
including in Milwaukee, have done great work with Hope VI dollars, and 
I am pleased the Senate rejected the President's cut to this important 
program.
  This legislation also provides increased funding for the Home 
Investment Partnerships Program, HOME, a program created in 1990 to 
assist States and local communities in producing affordable housing for 
low-income families. HOME is a grant program that allows participating 
jurisdictions the flexibility to use funds for new production, 
preservation, and rehabilitation of existing housing stock. Increased 
funding for HOME will help local communities, including those in 
Wisconsin, work to increase the availability of affordable housing 
stock in our country.
  I was pleased the Senate included my amendment calling on HUD to 
report on its funding needs for the section 8 project-based rental 
assistance program. In the past few months, many housing providers 
participating in the project-based program have not received their 
housing assistance payments from HUD as scheduled. Both HUD and OMB 
need to closely examine their budgeting process for the project-based 
program to try to ensure these late payments do not occur in the 
future. I have heard from housing providers who are worried about how 
they will afford their mortgage payments and utility bills without 
timely payments from HUD. My amendment calls on HUD to provide Congress 
with an accurate accounting of the costs to completely fund all 
project-based contracts. I hope HUD will provide detailed information 
to Congress so we can address the shortfall this program is facing and 
help ensure that housing providers receive their payments from HUD.
  I was pleased to support the investment in our vital transportation 
infrastructure in this legislation. After the tragic collapse of the I-
35W bridge in Minnesota, I also supported providing the specific funds 
to rebuild this roadway and dedicating additional funds through the 
Murray amendment for the acute problem of structurally deficient 
bridges throughout the Nation.
  While this funding directed toward deficient bridges was an 
appropriate short-term investment, I would have concerns if it became a 
long-term policy. This concern is because shifting Federal funds toward 
the roads and bridges that have been the least well maintained can be a 
disincentive for States to make proper investments of their own and 
could result in a shift of funding from States, like Wisconsin, that 
have voluntarily made higher investments in their transportation 
infrastructure and have fewer deficient structures to States that have 
not made a similar level of investment. Wisconsin's rate of return on 
the Federal fund to address deficient bridges is only 42 cents on a 
dollar paid in from Wisconsin taxpayers. I have fought for years to 
secure a fair rate of return for Wisconsinites from the highway trust 
fund after decades of us being a donor State and would oppose a long-
term policy of shifting funds from States that have kept up with their 
road and bridge maintenance to those that have not.
  I supported the Dorgan/Specter amendment to prevent the 
implementation of the administration's new pilot program for Mexican 
trucks because the program raises serious safety and environmental 
concerns and could depress U.S. wages for truckers. This program is 
just another symptom of failed trade policies like NAFTA. Our trade 
policies should allow us to establish and enforce our own public 
safety, health, and environmental safeguards, which benefit American 
businesses, workers, and consumers, instead of helping to ship millions 
of jobs overseas.
  I am disappointed the President has issued a veto threat on this 
appropriations bill. This legislation provides necessary funding for a 
number of important Federal programs to improve the quality of life in 
our Nation's communities, including infrastructure and housing needs. 
Many American families are depending on the program funding included in 
this bill. I hope the President will reconsider and remove his veto 
threat on this important legislation.
  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the fiscal year 
2008 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill, which was passed by the 
Senate earlier today.
  I would like to begin by thanking Chairwoman Murray and Ranking 
Member Bond. Crafting legislation that seeks to meet the transportation 
and housing needs of our Nation is no easy feat, and I commend the hard 
work of the chairwoman, the ranking member, my colleagues on the 
subcommittee, and their staffs.
  The legislation passed by the Senate provides nearly $105 billion for 
the upcoming fiscal year. Almost $66 billion is allocated to the 
Department of Transportation and nearly $39 billion is allocated to the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  I would like to speak on some of the transit and housing provisions 
in this legislation that fall under the Banking Committee's 
jurisdiction.

[[Page 24257]]

  I note that although this bill provides an increase in transit 
funding over fiscal year 2007, it does not fund transit at the level 
authorized in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, SAFETEA-LU, the surface transportation 
authorization bill which Congress passed just 2 years ago. Safe and 
efficient transit systems provide significant benefits both to transit 
riders and to others in the community, including employers, property 
owners, and automobile drivers. In fact, the Texas Transportation 
Institute has estimated that transit saves Americans over $18 billion a 
year by reducing the amount of time we spend in traffic. Moreover, in 
this era of high gasoline prices, public transportation provides an 
additional benefit: according to economists Robert Shapiro and Kevin 
Hassett, public transportation saves more than 855 million gallons of 
gasoline a year, helping to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 
Transit ridership is at its highest level in 40 years, and strong 
support for transit is essential in light of this increasing demand. I 
hope that this shortfall will be addressed by the conference committee.
  I would like to thank Senators Murray and Bond, as well as my ranking 
member on the Banking Committee, Senator Shelby, for working with me to 
include an amendment related to the Federal Transit Administration's 
proposed rule implementing the New Starts program. Through the New 
Starts program, the Federal Government helps to fund major transit 
investments in communities around the country. The proposed rule fails 
to follow SAFETEA-LU in several material respects, and at the same 
time, introduces new concepts that were not authorized in SAFETEA-LU. 
This amendment makes clear that the FTA's failure to follow the law is 
unacceptable.
  I am pleased that this bill provides additional funding, above the 
President's request, for many critical housing and community 
development programs. Unfortunately, the administration continues to 
request insufficient funds for these programs, and, in fact, each year 
has asked Congress to cut programs that assist our Nation's most 
vulnerable--children, seniors, and those with disabilities. Each year, 
we attempt to restore these cuts, and this year is no exception. 
Chairwoman Murray, and Ranking Member Bond, strong supporters of these 
programs, have, once again, successfully restored most of the cuts, 
helping to ensure that low-income families will have safe, decent and 
affordable housing in strong communities.
  The housing programs funded in this bill assist millions of families 
around our country. Without housing assistance, many families would 
lack the stability to find and retain employment, and many children 
would be unable to adequately perform in school because of multiple 
moves or health problems resulting from inadequate housing, including 
asthma, poor nutrition and lead poisoning.
  The wages of working families have not kept pace with housing costs. 
On average, a family in our country must earn $16.31 per hour at a 
full-time job in order to afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment without 
foregoing other basic needs. This amount is three times the minimum 
wage. In my home State of Connecticut, the wage needed to afford a 
modest 2-bedroom apartment is almost 4 times the minimum wage. This 
significant gap between the wages of low-income earners and housing 
costs makes evident that housing assistance is necessary for many 
working Americans.
  This bill restores funding to the public housing program, which 
houses over 1.2 million of our Nation's lowest-income families. The 
public housing program has been targeted by this administration for 
deep cuts each year, and has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over 
the last 7 years. This year, the administration sought cuts to public 
housing funding of almost $500 million. The bill before us restores 
these cuts, increasing funding for the Public Housing Capital Fund by 
$61 million, the Operating Fund by $336 million, and restoring funding 
for the successful Hope VI program. Even these levels of funding are 
lower than what is realistically needed by public housing agencies to 
operate all of their units, but we are pleased to see these increases.
  The bill we passed also increases funding for the Section 8 housing 
voucher program to ensure that all families currently in the program 
can retain housing. In addition, the bill provides funding for vouchers 
for veterans to make sure that American veterans have access to stable 
and affordable housing. It is a national disgrace that veterans, who 
have defended our country, are unable to access housing assistance in 
their times of need, and I strongly support the efforts of Senators 
Murray and Bond to address this critical failure.
  The Section 8 housing voucher program assists over 2 million families 
in affording rents in the private housing market. While the 
appropriators have done an exceptional job at protecting this program 
from budget cuts, a combination of legislative language and 
administrative changes have altered the funding formula in the Section 
8 program numerous times over the last several years, leaving housing 
agencies without assurance that all of their units will be funded. I 
applaud Senators Murray and Bond for including language in this bill 
retaining the Section 8 formula that was put in place last year--a 
formula that allocates funding in a reasonable way, and provides 
funding stability for housing agencies and the families they serve. I 
urge the chairwoman and ranking member to retain this formula 
throughout the whole appropriations process.
  This bill also ensures that programs to house seniors, people with 
disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS are fully funded. The 
President, astonishingly, requested a cut of $160 million to the senior 
housing program, and a cut of $112 million to the housing program for 
people with disabilities. I want to thank Chairwoman Murray and Ranking 
Member Bond for restoring these significant and shortsighted cuts.
  The bill we passed also seeks to increase funding for CDBG and the 
HOME program, two flexible sources of funds that communities use to 
house families across the income spectrum, provide rental assistance, 
rehabilitate housing and public facilities, provide and sustain 
homeownership opportunities, and restore and strengthen communities. In 
this bill, CDBG funding has been increased by $288 million over last 
year's funding level, and HOME has been increased by over $200 million, 
including an additional $100 million for housing counseling, 
specifically for counseling to prevent foreclosures, an increase I 
sought and strongly support.
  This $100 million is critical to helping build the counseling 
infrastructure that can help tens of thousands of American families 
threatened with default and foreclosure save their homes, preserve 
their home equity, and maintain their dignity. As many of my colleagues 
know, the subprime mortgage market has been rife with abusive and 
predatory lending practices that have led to millions of Americans 
being trapped in adjustable rate mortgages, ARMs, with mortgage 
payments that will soon explode to unaffordable levels. During hearings 
that I chaired in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
Committee, senior executives from some of the largest subprime lenders 
acknowledged that they knew, when their companies funded these loans, 
that many of these borrowers could not afford these payments after the 
interest rates reset and payments increased. Yet, they made the loans 
and collected the fees. In most cases, the lenders sold these loans off 
to the secondary market. Today, these homeowners, and their 
communities, are paying a steep price in lost equity and falling home 
prices.
  In fact, the Center for Responsible Lending, CRL, released a report 
late last year predicting that 2.2 million families would lose their 
homes at a cost of $164 billion in hard-earned home equity. When this 
report was released, we heard howls of protest from many analysts and 
industry officials; yet, as the weeks and months go by, and each new 
round of foreclosure statistics are released, the CRL number looks more 
and more accurate.

[[Page 24258]]

  The additional $100 million in counseling funds will help 
organizations with the experience and expertise to work with lenders 
and servicers to reach out to borrowers early--prior to loan resets, if 
possible--to try to modify loans to make them affordable for the long-
term. This effort is crucial--one industry study indicates that over 6 
million subprime borrowers, with over $1.5 trillion in home loans, will 
face mortgage loan resets in 2007 and beyond. Given the fact that we 
are already experiencing historically high foreclosure rates, we need 
to take decisive action to keep hard-working Americans in their homes.
  While this bill helps to ensure that low- and moderate-income 
families can afford decent and safe housing, I am concerned with the 
level of funding provided for Section 8 project-based assistance. This 
bill provides the level of funding requested by the administration; 
however, HUD recently alerted us that this is well below what is needed 
to pay for all project-based assistance contracts. Without adequate 
funding, property owners in the program will not be able to continue 
providing affordable housing to low-income families. I have called on 
the administration to immediately provide Congress with an estimate of 
the amount of funds needed to fully fund these contracts for housing 
assistance, and yet we have not received this vital information. If 
there is a shortfall in this program, we will have to address this 
problem.
  In closing, I would like mention a few additional initiatives funded 
under this bill. I am pleased that Amtrak has received almost $1.4 
billion in this legislation--funding that will ensure the continuation 
of passenger rail service in this country. I am also pleased that 
Senators Murray and Bond agreed to an amendment I cosponsored with 
Senator Clinton regarding the redesigning of airspace over greater New 
York. Over the past several months, I have voiced concern over the way 
the Federal Aviation Administration has proposed redesigning airspace 
in the Northeast. While I am supportive of the idea to reduce the air 
traffic congestion that currently plagues our country, I believe the 
FAA has an obligation to submit redesign proposals that are transparent 
and allow for full and informed public comment. The amendment adopted 
in this legislation takes a step forward in that direction. Finally, I 
am pleased that this bill contains vital resources for many important 
transportation and economic revitalization initiatives in my home 
state. It is my hope this funding is retained as the Senate proceeds to 
a conference with the other Chamber.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I support the Senate Transportation, 
Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies appropriations bill 
for fiscal year 2008. This bill provides $105.6 billion in fiscal year 
2008 for the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, and a number of independent agencies. This 
legislation will improve road and bridge safety and address past 
shortfalls in spending on our Nation's infrastructure and housing and 
economic development needs.
  This bill provides $41.2 billion to the Federal-aid Highways Program 
for disbursement to States and local governments to build, maintain, 
and repair highways, roads and bridges; $1.074 billion of which would 
go to Michigan.
  I supported an amendment which will provide increased funding for 
bridge replacement and rehabilitation. As a result of this amendment, 
Michigan would get an additional $23,539,287 for bridge replacement, 
bridge rehabilitation, preventative maintenance, seismic retrofitting, 
bridge inspections, and activities designed to protect bridges and 
extend their life spans.
  Mr. President, 78,000 bridges around the country have been identified 
as structurally deficient. Given the high number of bridges that are in 
need of urgent repair, which was made all the more apparent by the 
recent and tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis, it is appropriate for 
the Senate to direct more funding to address the urgency of this 
problem.
  The bill also provides $9.59 billion to operate America's public 
transit systems around the country.
  Public housing needs have been significantly underfunded over the 
past few years. I am pleased that this bill increased funding for the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, to $38.74 billion.
  This bill increases funding to $4.2 billion for the public housing 
operating fund and to $2.5 billion for the public housing capital fund 
which will help provide assistance to low-income, disabled, senior 
citizens, and families throughout the country. This bill also provides 
$735 million for the HUD section 202 program and $237 million for the 
HUD section 811 program. These programs provide grants to nonprofits 
and community organizations for the development of rental assistance 
and supportive housing for very low-income seniors and people with 
disabilities.
  This bill would also provide $52 million for fair housing activities 
through the Fair Housing Initiatives Program and the Fair Housing 
Assistance Program. Over 4 million fair housing violations occur each 
year in the United States, and these programs play a vital role in 
addressing housing discrimination in our country.
  Since fiscal year 2001, funding for the Community Development Block 
Grants, CDBG, has been reduced by 15 percent, and the President's 
budget request for fiscal year 2008 would have reduced funding for this 
important program by another 20 percent. I am pleased that this bill 
includes $4.1 billion for CDBG, which provides State and local 
governments with block grants to fund local community development 
programs.
  Mr. President, the Senate has done its work in funding the important 
transportation systems that keep our vehicles and people moving safely 
and efficiently and our economy humming as well as funding the housing 
and economic development programs on which so many of our citizens 
rely. This is despite the President's threat to veto this bill. I hope 
the President will have a change of heart and support our effort to 
invest in America's future.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we are moving rapidly toward final 
passage on this critically important infrastructure bill. I thank all 
of our Senators for working with us in a very constricted timetable to 
get this very important bill to this point today. I especially thank 
Senator Bond, his staff, and my staff. I will thank them more after 
passage of the bill. But I particularly thank Senator Bond for his work 
on his side of the aisle for putting together this very important bill.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate insist on its 
amendment, request a conference on the disagreeing votes, and that the 
Chair be authorized to appoint conferees.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The Senator 
from South Carolina.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Was there an objection?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There was a reservation of 
objection by the Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. DeMINT. Could we hold for a moment to discuss this?
  Mrs. MURRAY. I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington is 
recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
insist on its amendment, request a conference on the disagreeing votes, 
and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would say 
to the distinguished Senator, the chairman of the subcommittee, we are 
still checking to make sure everybody is aware of

[[Page 24259]]

what we are doing. I will not object but if we could withhold 
momentarily.
  Mr. REID. I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I renew my unanimous consent request that 
the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference on the 
disagreeing votes, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint 
conferees.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? The Chair hears 
no objection.
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, with that, we will proceed to the final 
vote. I wish to thank all our colleagues for their support.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment 
of the amendment and third reading of the bill.
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill having been read the third 
time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second? There 
is a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer), 
the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton), and the Senator from 
Connecticut (Mr. Dodd) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Idaho, (Mr. Craig) and the Senator from Arizona, (Mr. McCain).
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 88, nays 7, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 336 Leg.]

                                YEAS--88

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Crapo
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--7

     Barrasso
     Coburn
     Cornyn
     DeMint
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Kyl

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Boxer
     Clinton
     Craig
     Dodd
     McCain
  The bill (H.R. 3074), as amended, was passed, as follows:

                               H.R. 3074

       Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives 
     (H.R. 3074) entitled ``An Act making appropriations for the 
     Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban 
     Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2008, and for other purposes.'', do pass with 
     the following amendment:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     That the following sums are appropriated, out of any money in 
     the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the Departments 
     of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and 
     Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2008, and for other purposes, namely:

                                TITLE I

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

                        Office of the Secretary


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of the Secretary, 
     $95,197,000, of which not to exceed $2,314,274 shall be 
     available for the immediate Office of the Secretary; not to 
     exceed $736,833 shall be available for the immediate Office 
     of the Deputy Secretary; not to exceed $18,719,099 shall be 
     available for the Office of the General Counsel; not to 
     exceed $11,874,050 shall be available for the Office of the 
     Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy; not to exceed 
     $10,416,963 shall be available for the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs; not to exceed 
     $2,384,312 shall be available for the Office of the Assistant 
     Secretary for Governmental Affairs; not to exceed $24,007,990 
     shall be available for the Office of the Assistant Secretary 
     for Administration; not to exceed $1,987,803 shall be 
     available for the Office of Public Affairs; not to exceed 
     $1,534,557 shall be available for the Office of the Executive 
     Secretariat; not to exceed $1,334,596 shall be available for 
     the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization; 
     not to exceed $8,299,072 for the Office of Intelligence, 
     Security, and Emergency Response; and not to exceed 
     $11,587,000 shall be available for the Office of the Chief 
     Information Officer: Provided, That the Secretary of 
     Transportation is authorized to transfer funds appropriated 
     for any office of the Office of the Secretary to any other 
     office of the Office of the Secretary: Provided further, That 
     no appropriation for any office shall be increased or 
     decreased by more than 5 percent by all such transfers: 
     Provided further, That notice of any change in funding 
     greater than 5 percent shall be submitted for approval to the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations: Provided 
     further, That not to exceed $60,000 shall be for allocation 
     within the Department for official reception and 
     representation expenses as the Secretary may determine: 
     Provided further, That notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, excluding fees authorized in Public Law 107-71, there 
     may be credited to this appropriation up to $2,500,000 in 
     funds received in user fees: Provided further, That none of 
     the funds provided in this Act shall be available for the 
     position of Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.


                         Office of Civil Rights

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Civil Rights, 
     $9,140,900.


           Transportation Planning, Research, and Development

       For necessary expenses for conducting transportation 
     planning, research, systems development, development 
     activities, and making grants, to remain available until 
     expended, $14,115,000.


                          Working Capital Fund

       Necessary expenses for operating costs and capital outlays 
     of the Working Capital Fund, not to exceed $128,094,000, 
     shall be paid from appropriations made available to the 
     Department of Transportation: Provided, That such services 
     shall be provided on a competitive basis to entities within 
     the Department of Transportation: Provided further, That the 
     above limitation on operating expenses shall not apply to 
     non-DOT entities: Provided further, That no funds 
     appropriated in this Act to an agency of the Department shall 
     be transferred to the Working Capital Fund without the 
     approval of the agency modal administrator: Provided further, 
     That no assessments may be levied against any program, budget 
     activity, subactivity or project funded by this Act unless 
     notice of such assessments and the basis therefor are 
     presented to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations and are approved by such Committees.


               Minority Business Resource Center Program

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, $370,000, as authorized 
     by 49 U.S.C. 332: Provided, That such costs, including the 
     cost of modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 
     502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974: Provided 
     further, That these funds are available to subsidize total 
     loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed, not to 
     exceed $18,367,000. In addition, for administrative expenses 
     to carry out the guaranteed loan program, $521,000.


                       Minority Business Outreach

       For necessary expenses of Minority Business Resource Center 
     outreach activities, $2,970,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2009: Provided, That notwithstanding 49 U.S.C. 
     332, these funds may be used for business opportunities 
     related to any mode of transportation.


                        Payments to Air Carriers

                    (Airport and Airway Trust Fund)

                     (including transfer of funds)

       In addition to funds made available from any other source 
     to carry out the essential air service program under 49 
     U.S.C. 41731 through 41742, $60,000,000, to be derived from 
     the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That, in determining between or among 
     carriers competing to provide service to a community, the 
     Secretary may consider the relative subsidy requirements of 
     the carriers: Provided further, That, if the funds under this 
     heading are insufficient to meet the costs of the essential 
     air service program in the current fiscal year, the Secretary 
     shall transfer such sums as may be necessary to carry out the 
     essential air service program from any available amounts 
     appropriated to or directly administered by the Office of the 
     Secretary for such fiscal year.

[[Page 24260]]



                     compensation for air carriers


                              (rescission)

       Of the remaining unobligated balances under section 
     101(a)(2) of Public Law 107-42, $22,000,000 are rescinded.


  Administrative Provisions--Office of the Secretary of Transportation

       Sec. 101. The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to 
     transfer the unexpended balances available for the bonding 
     assistance program from ``Office of the Secretary, Salaries 
     and expenses'' to ``Minority Business Outreach''.
       Sec. 102. None of the funds made available in this Act to 
     the Department of Transportation may be obligated for the 
     Office of the Secretary of Transportation to approve 
     assessments or reimbursable agreements pertaining to funds 
     appropriated to the modal administrations in this Act, except 
     for activities underway on the date of enactment of this Act, 
     unless such assessments or agreements have completed the 
     normal reprogramming process for Congressional notification.
       Sec. 103. None of the funds made available under this Act 
     may be obligated or expended to establish or implement a 
     program under which essential air service communities are 
     required to assume subsidy costs commonly referred to as the 
     EAS local participation program.

                    Federal Aviation Administration


                               Operations

                    (airport and airway trust fund)

       For necessary expenses of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration, not otherwise provided for, including 
     operations and research activities related to commercial 
     space transportation, administrative expenses for research 
     and development, establishment of air navigation facilities, 
     the operation (including leasing) and maintenance of 
     aircraft, subsidizing the cost of aeronautical charts and 
     maps sold to the public, lease or purchase of passenger motor 
     vehicles for replacement only, in addition to amounts made 
     available by Public Law 108-176, $8,761,783,000, of which 
     $6,400,580,000 shall be derived from the Airport and Airway 
     Trust Fund, of which not to exceed $6,964,813,000 shall be 
     available for air traffic organization activities; not to 
     exceed $1,092,103,000 shall be available for aviation safety 
     activities; not to exceed $12,837,437 shall be available for 
     commercial space transportation activities; not to exceed 
     $103,848,661 shall be available for financial services 
     activities; not to exceed $91,214,239 shall be available for 
     human resources program activities; not to exceed 
     $290,872,359 shall be available for region and center 
     operations and regional coordination activities; not to 
     exceed $166,541,633 shall be available for staff offices; and 
     not to exceed $39,552,285 shall be available for information 
     services: Provided, That not to exceed 2 percent of any 
     budget activity, except for aviation safety budget activity, 
     may be transferred to any budget activity under this heading: 
     Provided further, That no transfer may increase or decrease 
     any appropriation by more than 2 percent: Provided further, 
     That any transfer in excess of 2 percent shall be treated as 
     a reprogramming of funds under section 405 of this Act and 
     shall not be available for obligation or expenditure except 
     in compliance with the procedures set forth in that section: 
     Provided further, That the Secretary utilize not less than 
     $20,000,000 of the funds provided for aviation safety 
     activities to pay for staff increases in the Office of 
     Aviation Flight Standards and the Office of Aircraft 
     Certification: Provided further, That none of the funds 
     provided for increases to the staffs of the aviation flight 
     standards and aircraft certification offices shall be used 
     for other purposes: Provided further, That not later than 
     March 31 of each fiscal year hereafter, the Administrator of 
     the Federal Aviation Administration shall transmit to 
     Congress an annual update to the report submitted to Congress 
     in December 2004 pursuant to section 221 of Public Law 108-
     176: Provided further, That the amount herein appropriated 
     shall be reduced by $100,000 for each day after March 31 that 
     such report has not been submitted to the Congress: Provided 
     further, That not later than March 31 of each fiscal year 
     hereafter, the Administrator shall transmit to Congress a 
     companion report that describes a comprehensive strategy for 
     staffing, hiring, and training flight standards and aircraft 
     certification staff in a format similar to the one utilized 
     for the controller staffing plan, including stated attrition 
     estimates and numerical hiring goals by fiscal year: Provided 
     further, That the amount herein appropriated shall be reduced 
     by $100,000 per day for each day after March 31 that such 
     report has not been submitted to Congress: Provided further, 
     That none of the funds in this Act shall be available for the 
     Federal Aviation Administration to finalize or implement any 
     regulation that would promulgate new aviation user fees not 
     specifically authorized by law after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act: Provided further, That there may be 
     credited to this appropriation funds received from States, 
     counties, municipalities, foreign authorities, other public 
     authorities, and private sources, for expenses incurred in 
     the provision of agency services, including receipts for the 
     maintenance and operation of air navigation facilities, and 
     for issuance, renewal or modification of certificates, 
     including airman, aircraft, and repair station certificates, 
     or for tests related thereto, or for processing major repair 
     or alteration forms: Provided further, That of the funds 
     appropriated under this heading, not less than $8,500,000 
     shall be for the contract tower cost-sharing program: 
     Provided further, That none of the funds in this Act shall be 
     available for paying premium pay under 5 U.S.C. 5546(a) to 
     any Federal Aviation Administration employee unless such 
     employee actually performed work during the time 
     corresponding to such premium pay: Provided further, That 
     none of the funds in this Act for aeronautical charting and 
     cartography are available for activities conducted by, or 
     coordinated through, the Working Capital Fund: Provided 
     further, That none of the funds in this Act may be obligated 
     or expended for an employee of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration to purchase a store gift card or gift 
     certificate through use of a Government-issued credit card.


                        Facilities and Equipment

                    (airport and airway trust fund)

       For necessary expenses, not otherwise provided for, for 
     acquisition, establishment, technical support services, 
     improvement by contract or purchase, and hire of air 
     navigation and experimental facilities and equipment, as 
     authorized under part A of subtitle VII of title 49, United 
     States Code, including initial acquisition of necessary sites 
     by lease or grant; engineering and service testing, including 
     construction of test facilities and acquisition of necessary 
     sites by lease or grant; construction and furnishing of 
     quarters and related accommodations for officers and 
     employees of the Federal Aviation Administration stationed at 
     remote localities where such accommodations are not 
     available; and the purchase, lease, or transfer of aircraft 
     from funds available under this heading, including aircraft 
     for aviation regulation and certification; to be derived from 
     the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, $2,516,920,000, of which 
     $2,056,947,000 shall remain available until September 30, 
     2010, and of which $459,973,000 shall remain available until 
     September 30, 2008: Provided, That there may be credited to 
     this appropriation funds received from States, counties, 
     municipalities, other public authorities, and private 
     sources, for expenses incurred in the establishment and 
     modernization of air navigation facilities: Provided further, 
     That upon initial submission to the Congress of the fiscal 
     year 2009 President's budget, the Secretary of Transportation 
     shall transmit to the Congress a comprehensive capital 
     investment plan for the Federal Aviation Administration which 
     includes funding for each budget line item for fiscal years 
     2009 through 2013, with total funding for each year of the 
     plan constrained to the funding targets for those years as 
     estimated and approved by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.


                 Research, Engineering, and Development

                    (airport and airway trust fund)

       For necessary expenses, not otherwise provided for, for 
     research, engineering, and development, as authorized under 
     part A of subtitle VII of title 49, United States Code, 
     including construction of experimental facilities and 
     acquisition of necessary sites by lease or grant, 
     $148,800,000, to be derived from the Airport and Airway Trust 
     Fund and to remain available until September 30, 2010: 
     Provided, That there may be credited to this appropriation as 
     offsetting collections, funds received from States, counties, 
     municipalities, other public authorities, and private 
     sources, which shall be available for expenses incurred for 
     research, engineering, and development.


                       Grants-in-Aid for Airports

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                    (airport and airway trust fund)

       For liquidation of obligations incurred for grants-in-aid 
     for airport planning and development, and noise compatibility 
     planning and programs as authorized under subchapter I of 
     chapter 471 and subchapter I of chapter 475 of title 49, 
     United States Code, and under other law authorizing such 
     obligations; for procurement, installation, and commissioning 
     of runway incursion prevention devices and systems at 
     airports of such title; for grants authorized under section 
     41743 of title 49, United States Code; and for inspection 
     activities and administration of airport safety programs, 
     including those related to airport operating certificates 
     under section 44706 of title 49, United States Code, 
     $4,399,000,000 to be derived from the Airport and Airway 
     Trust Fund and to remain available until expended: Provided, 
     That none of the funds under this heading shall be available 
     for the planning or execution of programs the obligations for 
     which are in excess of $3,514,500,000 in fiscal year 2008, 
     notwithstanding section 47117(g) of title 49, United States 
     Code: Provided further, That none of the funds under this 
     heading shall be available for the replacement of baggage 
     conveyor systems, reconfiguration of terminal baggage areas, 
     or other airport improvements that are necessary to install 
     bulk explosive detection systems: Provided further, That 
     notwithstanding any other provision of law, of funds limited 
     under this heading, not more than $80,676,000 shall be 
     obligated for administration, not less than $10,000,000 shall 
     be available for the airport cooperative research program, 
     not less than $18,712,000 shall be for Airport Technology 
     Research and $10,000,000 shall be available and transferred 
     to the account available to administer the small community 
     air service development program, to remain available until 
     expended.


                              (rescission)

       Of the amounts authorized for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2007, and prior years under sections 48103 and 
     48112 of title 49, United States Code, $185,500,000 are 
     rescinded.


       Administrative Provisions--Federal Aviation Administration

       Sec. 110. None of the funds in this Act may be used to 
     compensate in excess of 375 technical

[[Page 24261]]

     staff-years under the federally funded research and 
     development center contract between the Federal Aviation 
     Administration and the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems 
     Development during fiscal year 2008.
       Sec. 111. None of the funds in this Act shall be used to 
     pursue or adopt guidelines or regulations requiring airport 
     sponsors to provide to the Federal Aviation Administration 
     without cost building construction, maintenance, utilities 
     and expenses, or space in airport sponsor-owned buildings for 
     services relating to air traffic control, air navigation, or 
     weather reporting: Provided, That the prohibition of funds in 
     this section does not apply to negotiations between the 
     agency and airport sponsors to achieve agreement on ``below-
     market'' rates for these items or to grant assurances that 
     require airport sponsors to provide land without cost to the 
     FAA for air traffic control facilities.
       Sec. 112. The Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration may reimburse amounts made available to 
     satisfy 49 U.S.C. 41742(a)(1) from fees credited under 49 
     U.S.C. 45303: Provided, That during fiscal year 2008, 49 
     U.S.C. 41742(b) shall not apply, and any amount remaining in 
     such account at the close of that fiscal year may be made 
     available to satisfy section 41742(a)(1) for the subsequent 
     fiscal year.
       Sec. 113. Amounts collected under section 40113(e) of title 
     49, United States Code, shall be credited to the 
     appropriation current at the time of collection, to be merged 
     with and available for the same purposes of such 
     appropriation.
       Sec. 114. (a) Section 44302(f)(1) of title 49, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking ``2006,'' each place it 
     appears and inserting ``2008,''.
       (b) Section 44303(b) of such title is amended by striking 
     ``2006,'' and inserting ``2008,''.
       (c) Section 44310 of such title is amended by striking 
     ``March 30, 2008'' and inserting ``December 31, 2008''.
       Sec. 115. Multicrew Covered Operations Service by Older 
     Pilots. (a) In General.--Chapter 447 of title 49, United 
     States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the 
     following:

     ``Sec. 44729. Age standards for pilots

       ``(a) In General.--Subject to the limitation in subsection 
     (c), a pilot may serve in multicrew covered operations until 
     attaining 65 years of age.
       ``(b) Covered Operations Defined.--In this section, the 
     term `covered operations' means operations under part 121 of 
     title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
       ``(c) Limitation for International Flights.--
       ``(1) Applicability of icao standard.--A pilot who has 
     attained 60 years of age may serve as pilot-in-command in 
     covered operations between the United States and another 
     country only if there is another pilot in the flight deck 
     crew who has not yet attained 60 years of age.
       ``(2) Sunset of limitation.--Paragraph (1) shall cease to 
     be effective on such date as the Convention on International 
     Civil Aviation provides that a pilot who has attained 60 
     years of age may serve as pilot-in-command in international 
     commercial operations without regard to whether there is 
     another pilot in the flight deck crew who has not attained 
     age 60.
       ``(d) Sunset of Age-60 Retirement Rule.--On and after the 
     date of enactment of the Transportation, Housing and Urban 
     Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008, 
     section 121.383(c) of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, 
     shall cease to be effective.
       ``(e) Applicability.--
       ``(1) Nonretroactivity.--No person who has attained 60 
     years of age before the date of enactment of the 
     Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related 
     Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008 may serve as a pilot for an 
     air carrier engaged in covered operations unless--
       ``(A) such person is in the employment of that air carrier 
     in such operations on such date of enactment as a required 
     flight deck crew member; or
       ``(B) such person is newly hired by an air carrier as a 
     pilot on or after such date of enactment without credit for 
     prior seniority or prior longevity for benefits or other 
     terms related to length of service prior to the date of 
     rehire under any labor agreement or employment policies of 
     the air carrier.
       ``(2) Protection for compliance.--An action taken in 
     conformance with this section, taken in conformance with a 
     regulation issued to carry out this section, or taken prior 
     to the date of enactment of the Transportation, Housing and 
     Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
     2008 in conformance with section 121.383(c) of title 14, Code 
     of Federal Regulations (as in effect before such date of 
     enactment), may not serve as a basis for liability or relief 
     in a proceeding, brought under any employment law or 
     regulation, before any court or agency of the United States 
     or of any State or locality.
       ``(f) Amendments to Labor Agreements and Benefit Plans.--
     Any amendment to a labor agreement or benefit plan of an air 
     carrier that is required to conform with the requirements of 
     this section or a regulation issued to carry out this 
     section, and is applicable to pilots represented for 
     collective bargaining, shall be made by agreement of the air 
     carrier and the designated bargaining representative of the 
     pilots of the air carrier.
       ``(g) Medical Standards and Records.--
       ``(1) Medical examinations and standards.--Except as 
     provided by paragraph (2), a person serving as a pilot for an 
     air carrier engaged in covered operations shall not be 
     subject to different medical standards, or different, 
     greater, or more frequent medical examinations, on account of 
     age unless the Secretary determines (based on data received 
     or studies published after the date of enactment of the 
     Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related 
     Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008) that different medical 
     standards, or different, greater, or more frequent medical 
     examinations, are needed to ensure an adequate level of 
     safety in flight.
       ``(2) Duration of first-class medical certificate.--No 
     person who has attained 60 years of age may serve as a pilot 
     of an air carrier engaged in covered operations unless the 
     person has a first-class medical certificate. Such a 
     certificate shall expire on the last day of the 6-month 
     period following the date of examination shown on the 
     certificate.
       ``(h) Safety.--
       ``(1) Training.--Each air carrier engaged in covered 
     operations shall continue to use pilot training and 
     qualification programs approved by the Federal Aviation 
     Administration, with specific emphasis on initial and 
     recurrent training and qualification of pilots who have 
     attained 60 years of age, to ensure continued acceptable 
     levels of pilot skill and judgment.
       ``(2) Line evaluations.--Not later than 6 months after the 
     date of enactment of the Transportation, Housing and Urban 
     Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008, 
     and every 6 months thereafter, an air carrier engaged in 
     covered operations shall evaluate the performance of each 
     pilot of the air carrier who has attained 60 years of age 
     through a line check of such pilot. Notwithstanding the 
     preceding sentence, an air carrier shall not be required to 
     conduct for a 6-month period a line check under this 
     paragraph of a pilot serving as second-in-command if the 
     pilot has undergone a regularly scheduled simulator 
     evaluation during that period.
       ``(3) GAO report.--Not later than 24 months after the date 
     of enactment of the Transportation, Housing and Urban 
     Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008, 
     the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on 
     Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation of the Senate a report concerning the effect, 
     if any, on aviation safety of the modification to pilot age 
     standards made by subsection (a).''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The chapter analysis for chapter 
     447 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:

``Sec. 44729. Age standards for pilots''.

       Sec. 116. (a) Government Accountability Office Study on 
     Flight Delays.--
       (1) In general.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a 
     study on the efficacy of strategies employed by the 
     Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and the 
     Secretary of Transportation to address flight delays at 
     airports in the United States.
       (2) Contents.--The study required by paragraph (1) shall 
     include an assessment of--
       (A) efforts by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration to induce voluntary schedule reductions by air 
     carriers at Chicago O'Hare International Airport;
       (B) the mandatory flight reduction operations instituted by 
     the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration at 
     LaGuardia Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National 
     Airport;
       (C) the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan 
     Airspace Redesign; and
       (D) any other significant efforts by the Administrator of 
     the Federal Aviation Administration or the Secretary of 
     Transportation to reduce flight delays at airports in the 
     United States.
       (b) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit 
     to Congress a report including--
       (1) the results of the study required by subsection (a); 
     and
       (2) recommendations regarding which of the strategies 
     described in subsection (a) reduce airport delays most 
     effectively when employed for periods of 6 months or less.

                     Federal Highway Administration


                 limitation on administrative expenses

       Not to exceed $377,556,000, together with advances and 
     reimbursements received by the Federal Highway 
     Administration, shall be paid in accordance with law from 
     appropriations made available by this Act to the Federal 
     Highway Administration for necessary expenses for 
     administration and operation.


                          Federal-Aid Highways

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

                     (including transfer of funds)

       None of the funds in this Act shall be available for the 
     implementation or execution of programs, the obligations for 
     which are in excess of $40,216,051,359 for Federal-aid 
     highways and highway safety construction programs for fiscal 
     year 2008: Provided, That within the $40,216,051,359 
     obligation limitation on Federal-aid highways and highway 
     safety construction programs, not more than $429,800,000 
     shall be available for the implementation or execution of 
     programs for transportation research (chapter 5 of title 23, 
     United States Code; sections 111, 5505, and 5506 of title 49, 
     United States Code; and title 5 of Public Law 109-59) for 
     fiscal year 2008: Provided further, That this limitation on 
     transportation research programs shall not apply to any

[[Page 24262]]

     authority previously made available for obligation: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary may, as authorized by section 
     605(b) of title 23, United States Code, collect and spend 
     fees to cover the costs of services of expert firms, 
     including counsel, in the field of municipal and project 
     finance to assist in the underwriting and servicing of 
     Federal credit instruments and all or a portion of the costs 
     to the Federal government of servicing such credit 
     instruments: Provided further, That such fees are available 
     until expended to pay for such costs: Provided further, That 
     such amounts are in addition to administrative expenses that 
     are also available for such purpose, and are not subject to 
     any obligation limitation or the limitation on administrative 
     expenses under section 608 of title 23, United States Code.


                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                          (highway trust fund)

       Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for carrying 
     out the provisions of title 23, United States Code, that are 
     attributable to Federal-aid highways, not otherwise provided, 
     including reimbursement for sums expended pursuant to the 
     provisions of 23 U.S.C. 308, $40,955,051,359 or so much 
     thereof as may be available in and derived from the Highway 
     Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account), to remain 
     available until expended.


                              (RESCISSION)

                          (HIGHWAY TRUST FUND)

       Of the unobligated balances of funds apportioned to each 
     State under chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, 
     $2,890,000,000 are rescinded: Provided, That such rescission 
     shall not apply to the funds distributed in accordance with 
     sections 130(f) and 104(b)(5) of title 23, United States 
     Code; sections 133(d)(1) and 163 of such title, as in effect 
     on the day before the date of enactment of Public Law 109-59; 
     and the first sentence of section 133(d)(3)(A) of such title.


                 I-35W BRIDGE REPAIR AND RECONSTRUCTION

        For necessary expenses to carry out the project for repair 
     and reconstruction of the Interstate I-35W bridge located in 
     Minneapolis, Minnesota, that collapsed on August 1, 2007, as 
     authorized under section 1(c) of Public Law 110-56 (121 Stat. 
     558), up to $195,000,000, as documented by the Minnesota 
     Department of Transportation to remain available until 
     expended, Provided, That that amount is designated as an 
     emergency requirement pursuant to section 204 of S. Con. Res. 
     21 (110th Congress): Provided further, That the Federal share 
     of the costs of any project funded using amounts made 
     available under this section shall be 100 percent in 
     accordance with section 1(b) of Public Law 110-56 (121 Stat. 
     588).


                 APPALACHIAN DEVELOPMENT HIGHWAY SYSTEM

       For necessary expenses for West Virginia corridor H of the 
     Appalachian Development Highway System as authorized under 
     section 1069(y) of Public Law 102-240, as amended, 
     $20,000,000, to remain available until expended.


           DELTA REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

       For necessary expenses for the Delta Regional 
     Transportation Development Program as authorized under 
     section 1308 of Public Law 109-59, $20,000,000, to remain 
     available until expended.


       Administrative Provisions--Federal Highway Administration

       Sec. 120. (a) For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary of 
     Transportation shall--
       (1) not distribute from the obligation limitation for 
     Federal-aid highways amounts authorized for administrative 
     expenses and programs by section 104(a) of title 23, United 
     States Code; programs funded from the administrative takedown 
     authorized by section 104(a)(1) of title 23, United States 
     Code (as in effect on the date before the date of enactment 
     of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
     Equity Act: A Legacy for Users); the highway use tax evasion 
     program; amounts designated under section 124; and the Bureau 
     of Transportation Statistics;
       (2) not distribute an amount from the obligation limitation 
     for Federal-aid highways that is equal to the unobligated 
     balance of amounts made available from the Highway Trust Fund 
     (other than the Mass Transit Account) for Federal-aid 
     highways and highway safety programs for previous fiscal 
     years the funds for which are allocated by the Secretary;
       (3) determine the ratio that--
       (A) the obligation limitation for Federal-aid highways, 
     less the aggregate of amounts not distributed under 
     paragraphs (1) and (2), bears to
       (B) the total of the sums authorized to be appropriated for 
     Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs 
     (other than sums authorized to be appropriated for provisions 
     of law described in paragraphs (1) through (9) of subsection 
     (b) and sums authorized to be appropriated for section 105 of 
     title 23, United States Code, equal to the amount referred to 
     in subsection (b)(10) for such fiscal year), less the 
     aggregate of the amounts not distributed under paragraphs (1) 
     and (2) of this subsection;
       (4)(A) distribute the obligation limitation for Federal-aid 
     highways, less the aggregate amounts not distributed under 
     paragraphs (1) and (2), for sections 1301, 1302, and 1934 of 
     the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
     Equity Act: A Legacy for Users; sections 117 (but 
     individually for each project numbered 1 through 3676 listed 
     in the table contained in section 1702 of the Safe, 
     Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 
     Legacy for Users) and 144(g) of title 23, United States Code; 
     and section 14501 of title 40, United States Code, so that 
     the amount of obligation authority available for each of such 
     sections is equal to the amount determined by multiplying the 
     ratio determined under paragraph (3) by the sums authorized 
     to be appropriated for that section for the fiscal year; and
       (B) distribute $2,000,000,000 for section 105 of title 23, 
     United States Code;
       (5) distribute the obligation limitation provided for 
     Federal-aid highways, less the aggregate amounts not 
     distributed under paragraphs (1) and (2) and amounts 
     distributed under paragraph (4), for each of the programs 
     that are allocated by the Secretary under the Safe, 
     Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 
     Legacy for Users and title 23, United States Code (other than 
     to programs to which paragraphs (1) and (4) apply), by 
     multiplying the ratio determined under paragraph (3) by the 
     amounts authorized to be appropriated for each such program 
     for such fiscal year; and
       (6) distribute the obligation limitation provided for 
     Federal-aid highways, less the aggregate amounts not 
     distributed under paragraphs (1) and (2) and amounts 
     distributed under paragraphs (4) and (5), for Federal-aid 
     highways and highway safety construction programs (other than 
     the amounts apportioned for the equity bonus program, but 
     only to the extent that the amounts apportioned for the 
     equity bonus program for the fiscal year are greater than 
     $2,639,000,000, and the Appalachian development highway 
     system program) that are apportioned by the Secretary under 
     the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
     Equity Act: A Legacy for Users and title 23, United States 
     Code, in the ratio that--
       (A) amounts authorized to be appropriated for such programs 
     that are apportioned to each State for such fiscal year, bear 
     to
       (B) the total of the amounts authorized to be appropriated 
     for such programs that are apportioned to all States for such 
     fiscal year.
       (b) Exceptions From Obligation Limitation.--The obligation 
     limitation for Federal-aid highways shall not apply to 
     obligations: (1) under section 125 of title 23, United States 
     Code; (2) under section 147 of the Surface Transportation 
     Assistance Act of 1978; (3) under section 9 of the Federal-
     Aid Highway Act of 1981; (4) under subsections (b) and (j) of 
     section 131 of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 
     1982; (5) under subsections (b) and (c) of section 149 of the 
     Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act 
     of 1987; (6) under sections 1103 through 1108 of the 
     Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991; (7) 
     under section 157 of title 23, United States Code, as in 
     effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the 
     Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century; (8) under 
     section 105 of title 23, United States Code, as in effect for 
     fiscal years 1998 through 2004, but only in an amount equal 
     to $639,000,000 for each of those fiscal years; (9) for 
     Federal-aid highway programs for which obligation authority 
     was made available under the Transportation Equity Act for 
     the 21st Century or subsequent public laws for multiple years 
     or to remain available until used, but only to the extent 
     that the obligation authority has not lapsed or been used; 
     (10) under section 105 of title 23, United States Code, but 
     only in an amount equal to $639,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2005 through 2008; and (11) under section 1603 of the 
     Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity 
     Act: A Legacy for Users, to the extent that funds obligated 
     in accordance with that section were not subject to a 
     limitation on obligations at the time at which the funds were 
     initially made available for obligation.
       (c) Redistribution of Unused Obligation Authority.--
     Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary shall, after 
     August 1 of such fiscal year, revise a distribution of the 
     obligation limitation made available under subsection (a) if 
     the amount distributed cannot be obligated during that fiscal 
     year and redistribute sufficient amounts to those States able 
     to obligate amounts in addition to those previously 
     distributed during that fiscal year, giving priority to those 
     States having large unobligated balances of funds apportioned 
     under sections 104 and 144 of title 23, United States Code.
       (d) Applicability of Obligation Limitations to 
     Transportation Research Programs.--The obligation limitation 
     shall apply to transportation research programs carried out 
     under chapter 5 of title 23, United States Code, and title V 
     (research title) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 
     Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, 
     except that obligation authority made available for such 
     programs under such limitation shall remain available for a 
     period of 3 fiscal years and shall be in addition to the 
     amount of any limitation imposed on obligations for Federal-
     aid highway and highway safety construction programs for 
     future fiscal years.
       (e) Redistribution of Certain Authorized Funds.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
     the distribution of obligation limitation under subsection 
     (a), the Secretary shall distribute to the States any funds 
     that--
       (A) are authorized to be appropriated for such fiscal year 
     for Federal-aid highways programs; and
       (B) the Secretary determines will not be allocated to the 
     States, and will not be available for obligation, in such 
     fiscal year due to the imposition of any obligation 
     limitation for such fiscal year.
       (2) Ratio.--Funds shall be distributed under paragraph (1) 
     in the same ratio as the distribution of obligation authority 
     under subsection (a)(6).

[[Page 24263]]

       (3) Availability.--Funds distributed under paragraph (1) 
     shall be available for any purposes described in section 
     133(b) of title 23, United States Code.
       (f) Special Limitation Characteristics.--Obligation 
     limitation distributed for a fiscal year under subsection 
     (a)(4) for the provision specified in subsection (a)(4) 
     shall--
       (1) remain available until used for obligation of funds for 
     that provision; and
       (2) be in addition to the amount of any limitation imposed 
     on obligations for Federal-aid highway and highway safety 
     construction programs for future fiscal years.
       (g) High Priority Project Flexibility.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), obligation 
     authority distributed for such fiscal year under subsection 
     (a)(4) for each project numbered 1 through 3676 listed in the 
     table contained in section 1702 of the Safe, Accountable, 
     Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for 
     Users may be obligated for any other project in such section 
     in the same State.
       (2) Restoration.--Obligation authority used as described in 
     paragraph (1) shall be restored to the original purpose on 
     the date on which obligation authority is distributed under 
     this section for the next fiscal year following obligation 
     under paragraph (1).
       (h) Limitation on Statutory Construction.--Nothing in this 
     section shall be construed to limit the distribution of 
     obligation authority under subsection (a)(4)(A) for each of 
     the individual projects numbered greater than 3676 listed in 
     the table contained in section 1702 of the Safe, Accountable, 
     Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for 
     Users.
       Sec. 121. Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, funds received by 
     the Bureau of Transportation Statistics from the sale of data 
     products, for necessary expenses incurred pursuant to 49 
     U.S.C. 111 may be credited to the Federal-aid highways 
     account for the purpose of reimbursing the Bureau for such 
     expenses: Provided, That such funds shall be subject to the 
     obligation limitation for Federal-aid highways and highway 
     safety construction.


                              (rescission)

       Sec. 122. Of the amounts made available under section 
     104(a) of title 23, United States Code, $43,358,601 are 
     rescinded.


                              (rescission)

       Sec. 123. Of the unobligated balances made available under 
     section 188(a)(1) of title 23, United States Code, as in 
     effect on the day before the date of enactment of Public Law 
     109-59, and under section 608(a)(1) of such title, 
     $187,146,000 are rescinded.
       Sec. 124. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 
     authorized under section 110 of title 23, United States Code, 
     for fiscal year 2008 shall be designated for projects and 
     competitive initiatives as listed in the report accompanying 
     this Act.
       Sec. 125. Not less than 15 days prior to waiving, under her 
     statutory authority, any Buy America requirement for Federal-
     aid highway projects, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
     make an informal public notice and comment opportunity on the 
     intent to issue such waiver and the reasons therefor. The 
     Secretary shall provide an annual report to the 
     Appropriations Committees of the Congress on any waivers 
     granted under the Buy America requirements.
       Sec. 126. Notwithstanding section 378 of the Department of 
     Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 
     (Public Law 106-346; 114 Stat. 1356A-38), amounts made 
     available under that section for a project for construction 
     of and improvements to North Shore Road in Swain County, 
     North Carolina, that remain unobligated and unexpended after 
     issuance of the record of decision for that project may be 
     used to implement the selected alternative included in the 
     record of decision.

              Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration


              Motor Carrier Safety Operations and Programs

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

       For payment of obligations incurred for administration of 
     motor carrier safety operations and programs pursuant to 
     section 31104(i) of title 49, United States Code, and 
     sections 4127 and 4134 of Public Law 109-59, $231,469,553, to 
     be derived from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass 
     Transit Account), together with advances and reimbursements 
     received by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 
     the sum of which shall remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That none of the funds derived from the Highway 
     Trust Fund in this Act shall be available for the 
     implementation, execution or administration of programs, the 
     obligations for which are in excess of $231,469,553, for 
     ``Motor Carrier Safety Operations and Programs'', of which 
     $7,550,000, to remain available for obligation until 
     September 30, 2010, is for the research and technology 
     program and $1,000,000 shall be available for commercial 
     motor vehicle operator's grants to carry out section 4134 of 
     Public Law 109-59: Provided further, That notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, none of the funds under this heading 
     for outreach and education shall be available for transfer.


                      Motor Carrier Safety Grants

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

                         (including rescission)

       For payment of obligations incurred in carrying out 
     sections 31102, 31104(a), 31106, 31107, 31109, 31309, 31313 
     of title 49, United States Code, and sections 4126 and 4128 
     of Public Law 109-59, $300,000,000, to be derived from the 
     Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) and 
     to remain available until expended: Provided, That none of 
     the funds in this Act shall be available for the 
     implementation or execution of programs, the obligations for 
     which are in excess of $300,000,000, for ``Motor Carrier 
     Safety Grants''; of which $202,000,000 shall be available for 
     the motor carrier safety assistance program to carry out 
     sections 31102 and 31104(a) of title 49, United States Code; 
     $25,000,000 shall be available for the commercial driver's 
     license improvements program to carry out section 31313 of 
     title 49, United States Code; $32,000,000 shall be available 
     for the border enforcement grants program to carry out 
     section 31107 of title 49, United States Code; $5,000,000 
     shall be available for the performance and registration 
     information system management program to carry out sections 
     31106(b) and 31109 of title 49, United States Code; 
     $25,000,000 shall be available for the commercial vehicle 
     information systems and networks deployment program to carry 
     out section 4126 of Public Law 109-59; $3,000,000 shall be 
     available for the safety data improvement program to carry 
     out section 4128 of Public Law 109-59; and $8,000,000 shall 
     be available for the commercial driver's license information 
     system modernization program to carry out section 31309(e) of 
     title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That of the 
     funds made available for the motor carrier safety assistance 
     program, $29,000,000 shall be available for audits of new 
     entrant motor carriers: Provided further, That $11,260,214 in 
     unobligated balances are rescinded.


                          Motor Carrier Safety

                          (highway trust fund)

                              (rescission)

       Of the amounts made available under this heading in prior 
     appropriations Acts, $32,187,720 in unobligated balances are 
     rescinded.


                 national motor carrier safety program

                          (highway trust fund)

                              (rescission)

       Of the amounts made available under this hearing in prior 
     appropriations Act, $5,212,858 in unobligated balances are 
     rescinded.


 Administrative Provision--Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

       Sec. 130. Funds appropriated or limited in this Act shall 
     be subject to the terms and conditions stipulated in section 
     350 of Public Law 107-87 and section 6901 of Public Law 110-
     28, including that the Secretary submit a report to the House 
     and Senate Appropriations Committees annually on the safety 
     and security of transportation into the United States by 
     Mexico-domiciled motor carriers.

             National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


                        Operations and Research

       For expenses necessary to discharge the functions of the 
     Secretary, with respect to traffic and highway safety under 
     chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, and part C of 
     subtitle VI of title 49, United States Code, $124,406,000, of 
     which $26,156,000 shall remain available until September 30, 
     2010: Provided, That none of the funds appropriated by this 
     Act may be obligated or expended to plan, finalize, or 
     implement any rulemaking to add to section 575.104 of title 
     49 of the Code of Federal Regulations any requirement 
     pertaining to a grading standard that is different from the 
     three grading standards (treadwear, traction, and temperature 
     resistance) already in effect.


                        Operations and Research

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

       For payment of obligations incurred in carrying out the 
     provisions of 23 U.S.C. 403, $107,750,000, to be derived from 
     the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) 
     and to remain available until expended: Provided, That none 
     of the funds in this Act shall be available for the planning 
     or execution of programs the total obligations for which, in 
     fiscal year 2008, are in excess of $107,750,000 for programs 
     authorized under 23 U.S.C. 403.


                        National Driver Register

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

       For payment of obligations incurred in carrying out chapter 
     303 of title 49, United States Code, $4,000,000, to be 
     derived from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass 
     Transit Account) and to remain available until September 30, 
     2010: Provided, That none of the funds in this Act shall be 
     available for the implementation or execution of programs the 
     total obligations for which, in fiscal year 2008, are in 
     excess of $4,000,000 for the National Driver Register 
     authorized under such chapter.


                     Highway Traffic Safety Grants

                (liquidation of contract authorization)

                      (limitation on obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

       For payment of obligations incurred in carrying out the 
     provisions of 23 U.S.C. 402, 405, 406, 408, and 410 and 
     sections 2001(a)(11), 2009, 2010, and 2011 of Public Law 109-
     59, to remain available until expended, $599,250,000 to be 
     derived from the Highway Trust Fund (other than

[[Page 24264]]

     the Mass Transit Account): Provided, That none of the funds 
     in this Act shall be available for the planning or execution 
     of programs the total obligations for which, in fiscal year 
     2008, are in excess of $599,250,000 for programs authorized 
     under 23 U.S.C. 402, 405, 406, 408, and 410 and sections 
     2001(a)(11), 2009, 2010, and 2011 of Public Law 109-59, of 
     which $225,000,000 shall be for ``Highway Safety Programs'' 
     under 23 U.S.C. 402; $25,000,000 shall be for ``Occupant 
     Protection Incentive Grants'' under 23 U.S.C. 405; 
     $124,500,000 shall be for ``Safety Belt Performance Grants'' 
     under 23 U.S.C. 406; $34,500,000 shall be for ``State Traffic 
     Safety Information System Improvements'' under 23 U.S.C. 408; 
     $131,000,000 shall be for ``Alcohol-Impaired Driving 
     Countermeasures Incentive Grant Program'' under 23 U.S.C. 
     410; $18,250,000 shall be for ``Administrative Expenses'' 
     under section 2001(a)(11) of Public Law 109-59; $29,000,000 
     shall be for ``High Visibility Enforcement Program'' under 
     section 2009 of Public Law 109-59; $6,000,000 shall be for 
     ``Motorcyclist Safety'' under section 2010 of Public Law 109-
     59; and $6,000,000 shall be for ``Child Safety and Child 
     Booster Seat Safety Incentive Grants'' under section 2011 of 
     Public Law 109-59: Provided further, That none of these funds 
     shall be used for construction, rehabilitation, or remodeling 
     costs, or for office furnishings and fixtures for State, 
     local or private buildings or structures: Provided further, 
     That not to exceed $500,000 of the funds made available for 
     section 410 ``Alcohol-Impaired Driving Countermeasures 
     Grants'' shall be available for technical assistance to the 
     States: Provided further, That not to exceed $750,000 of the 
     funds made available for the ``High Visibility Enforcement 
     Program'' shall be available for the evaluation required 
     under section 2009(f) of Public Law 109-59.


      Administrative Provisions--National Highway Traffic Safety 
                             Administration

                        (including rescissions)

       Sec. 140. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or 
     limitation on the use of funds made available under section 
     403 of title 23, United States Code, an additional $130,000 
     shall be made available to the National Highway Traffic 
     Safety Administration, out of the amount limited for section 
     402 of title 23, United States Code, to pay for travel and 
     related expenses for State management reviews and to pay for 
     core competency development training and related expenses for 
     highway safety staff.
       Sec. 141. Of the amounts made available under the heading 
     ``Operations and Research (Liquidation of Contract 
     Authorization) (Limitation on Obligations) (Highway Trust 
     Fund)'' in prior appropriations Acts, $12,197,113.60 in 
     unobligated balances are rescinded.
       Sec. 142. Of the amounts made available under the heading 
     ``National Driver Register (Liquidation of Contract 
     Authorization) (Limitation on Obligations) (Highway Trust 
     Fund)'' in prior appropriations Acts, $119,914.61 in 
     unobligated balances are rescinded.
       Sec. 143. Of the amounts made available under the heading 
     ``Highway Traffic Safety Grants (Liquidation of Contract 
     Authorization) (Limitation on Obligations) (Highway Trust 
     Fund)'' in prior appropriations Acts, $10,528,958 in 
     unobligated balances are rescinded.

                    Federal Railroad Administration


                         Safety and Operations

       For necessary expenses of the Federal Railroad 
     Administration, not otherwise provided for, $151,186,000, of 
     which $12,268,890 shall remain available until expended.


                   Railroad Research and Development

       For necessary expenses for railroad research and 
     development, $36,250,000, to remain available until expended.


     Capital Assistance to States--Intercity Passenger Rail Service

       To enable the Federal Railroad Administrator to make grants 
     to States for the capital costs of improving existing 
     intercity passenger rail service and providing new intercity 
     passenger rail, $100,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That grants shall be provided to a State 
     only on a reimbursable basis: Provided further, That grants 
     cover no more than 50 percent of the total capital cost of a 
     project selected for funding: Provided further, That no later 
     than eight months following enactment of this Act, the 
     Secretary shall establish and publish criteria for project 
     selection, set a deadline for grant applications, and provide 
     a schedule for project selection: Provided further, That the 
     provisions of section 24312 of title 49, United States Code, 
     shall apply to grantees assisted under this paragraph: 
     Provided further, That to be eligible for this assistance, 
     States must include intercity passenger rail service as an 
     integral part of statewide transportation planning as 
     required under section 135 of title 23, United States Code: 
     Provided further, That the specific project must be on the 
     Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan at the time of the 
     application to qualify: Provided further, That the Secretary 
     give priority to applications for projects that improve the 
     safety and reliability of intercity passenger trains, involve 
     a commitment by freight railroads to an enforceable on-time 
     performance of passenger trains of 80 percent or greater, 
     involve a commitment by freight railroads of financial 
     resources commensurate with the benefit expected to their 
     operations, improve or extend service on a route that 
     requires little or no Federal assistance for its operations, 
     involve a commitment by States or railroads of financial 
     resources to improve the safety of highway/rail grade 
     crossings over which the passenger service operates.


            Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Program

       The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to issue to 
     the Secretary of the Treasury notes or other obligations 
     pursuant to section 512 of the Railroad Revitalization and 
     Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (Public Law 94-210), as 
     amended, in such amounts and at such times as may be 
     necessary to pay any amounts required pursuant to the 
     guarantee of the principal amount of obligations under 
     sections 511 through 513 of such Act, such authority to exist 
     as long as any such guaranteed obligation is outstanding: 
     Provided, That pursuant to section 502 of such Act, as 
     amended, no new direct loans or loan guarantee commitments 
     shall be made using Federal funds for the credit risk premium 
     during fiscal year 2008.


    OPERATING GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION

       To enable the Secretary of Transportation to make quarterly 
     grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation for 
     operation of intercity passenger rail, $485,000,000 to remain 
     available until expended: Provided, That the Secretary of 
     Transportation shall approve funding to cover operating 
     losses for the Corporation only after receiving and reviewing 
     a grant request for each specific train route: Provided 
     further, That each such grant request shall be accompanied by 
     a detailed financial analysis, revenue projection, and 
     capital expenditure projection justifying the Federal support 
     to the Secretary's satisfaction: Provided further, That the 
     Corporation is directed to achieve savings through operating 
     efficiencies including, but not limited to, modifications to 
     food and beverage service and first class service: Provided 
     further, That the Inspector General of the Department of 
     Transportation shall report to the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations beginning three months after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act and quarterly thereafter 
     with estimates of the savings accrued as a result of all 
     operational reforms instituted by the Corporation: Provided 
     further, That not later than 120 days after enactment of this 
     Act, the Corporation shall transmit to the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations the status of its plan to 
     improve the financial performance of food and beverage 
     service and its plan to improve the financial performance of 
     first class service (including sleeping car service): 
     Provided further, That the Corporation shall report quarterly 
     to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on its 
     progress against the milestones and target dates contained in 
     the plan provided in fiscal year 2007 and quantify savings 
     realized to date on a monthly basis compared to those 
     projected in the plan, identify any changes in the plan or 
     delays in implementing these plans, and identify the causes 
     of delay and proposed corrective measures: Provided further, 
     That not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, the 
     Corporation shall transmit, in electronic format, to the 
     Secretary, the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, 
     the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and 
     the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
     a comprehensive business plan approved by the Board of 
     Directors for fiscal year 2008 under section 24104(a) of 
     title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That the 
     business plan shall include, as applicable, targets for 
     ridership, revenues, and capital and operating expenses: 
     Provided further, That the plan shall also include a separate 
     accounting of such targets for the Northeast Corridor; 
     commuter service; long-distance Amtrak service; State-
     supported service; each intercity train route, including 
     Autotrain; and commercial activities including contract 
     operations: Provided further, That the business plan shall 
     include a description of the work to be funded, along with 
     cost estimates and an estimated timetable for completion of 
     the projects covered by this business plan: Provided further, 
     That the Corporation shall continue to provide monthly 
     reports in electronic format regarding the pending business 
     plan, which shall describe the work completed to date, any 
     changes to the business plan, and the reasons for such 
     changes, and shall identify all sole source contract awards 
     which shall be accompanied by a justification as to why said 
     contract was awarded on a sole source basis: Provided 
     further, That the Corporation's business plan and all 
     subsequent supplemental plans shall be displayed on the 
     Corporation's website within a reasonable timeframe following 
     their submission to the appropriate entities: Provided 
     further, That the leases and contracts entered into by the 
     Corporation in any year that the Corporation receives a 
     Federal subsidy after the date of enactment of the Act, 
     regardless of the place the same may be executed, shall be 
     governed by the laws of the District of Columbia: Provided 
     further, That none of the funds under this heading may be 
     obligated or expended until the Corporation agrees to 
     continue abiding by the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 5, 9, 
     and 11 of the summary of conditions for the direct loan 
     agreement of June 28, 2002, in the same manner as in effect 
     on the date of enactment of this Act.


  CAPITAL AND DEBT SERVICE GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER 
                              CORPORATION

       To enable the Secretary of Transportation to make quarterly 
     grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation for the 
     maintenance and repair of capital infrastructure owned by the 
     Corporation, including railroad equipment, rolling stock, 
     legal mandates and other services, $885,000,000, to remain 
     available until expended, of which not to exceed $285,000,000 
     shall be for

[[Page 24265]]

     debt service obligations: Provided, That the Secretary may 
     retain up to one-quarter of one percent of the funds under 
     this heading to fund the oversight by the Federal Railroad 
     Administration of the design and implementation of capital 
     projects funded by grants made under this heading: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary shall approve funding for capital 
     expenditures, including advance purchase orders of materials, 
     for the Corporation only after receiving and reviewing a 
     grant request for each specific capital grant justifying the 
     Federal support to the Secretary's satisfaction: Provided 
     further, That none of the funds under this heading may be 
     used to subsidize operating losses of the Corporation: 
     Provided further, That none of the funds under this heading 
     may be used for capital projects not approved by the 
     Secretary of Transportation or on the Corporation's fiscal 
     year 2008 business plan: Provided further, That $35,000,000 
     of amounts made available under this heading shall be 
     available until expended for capital improvements if the 
     Corporation demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that 
     the Corporation has achieved operational savings and met 
     ridership and revenue targets as defined in the Corporation's 
     business plan: Provided further, That of the funds provided 
     under this section, not less than $5,000,000 shall be 
     expended for the development and implementation of a 
     managerial cost accounting system, which includes average and 
     marginal unit cost capability: Provided further, That within 
     90 days of enactment, the Department of Transportation 
     Inspector General shall review and comment to the Secretary 
     of Transportation and the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations upon the strengths and weaknesses of the 
     system being developed by the Corporation and how it best can 
     be implemented to improve decision making by the Board of 
     Directors and management of the Corporation: Provided 
     further, That not later than 180 days after the enactment of 
     this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Corporation 
     and the States on the Northeast Corridor, shall establish a 
     common definition of what is determined to be a ``state of 
     good repair'' on the Northeast Corridor and report its 
     findings, including definitional areas of disagreement, to 
     the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, the House 
     Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate 
     Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


       Administrative Provisions--Federal Railroad Administration

       Sec. 150. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 
     funds provided in this Act for the National Railroad 
     Passenger Corporation shall immediately cease to be available 
     to said Corporation in the event that the Corporation 
     contracts to have services provided at or from any location 
     outside the United States. For purposes of this section, the 
     word ``services'' shall mean any service that was, as of July 
     1, 2006, performed by a full-time or part-time Amtrak 
     employee whose base of employment is located within the 
     United States.
       Sec. 151. Not later than January 1, 2008, the Federal 
     Railroad Administrator shall submit a report, and quarterly 
     reports thereafter, to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations detailing the Administrator's efforts at 
     improving the on-time performance of Amtrak intercity rail 
     service operating on non-Amtrak owned property. Such reports 
     shall compare the most recent actual on-time performance data 
     to pre-established on-time performance goals that the 
     Administrator shall set for each rail service, identified by 
     route. Such reports shall also include whatever other 
     information and data regarding the on-time performance of 
     Amtrak trains the Administrator deems to be appropriate.
       Sec. 152. The Secretary may purchase promotional items of 
     nominal value for use in public outreach activities to 
     accomplish the purposes of 49 U.S.C. 20134: Provided, That 
     the Secretary shall prescribe guidelines for the 
     administration of such purchases and use.
       Sec. 153. Hereafter, any lease or contract entered into 
     between the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and the 
     State of Maryland or any department or agency of the State of 
     Maryland, after the date of the enactment of this Act, shall 
     be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia.

                     Federal Transit Administration


                        Administrative Expenses

       For necessary administrative expenses of the Federal 
     Transit Administration's programs authorized by chapter 53 of 
     title 49, United States Code, $88,795,000: Provided, That of 
     the funds available under this heading, not to exceed 
     $910,239 shall be available for the Office of the 
     Administrator; not to exceed $6,353,739 shall be available 
     for the Office of Administration; not to exceed $4,545,039 
     shall be available for the Office of the Chief Counsel; not 
     to exceed $1,480,289 shall be available for the Office of 
     Communication and Congressional Affairs; not to exceed 
     $8,741,339 shall be available for the Office of Program 
     Management; not to exceed $10,857,698 shall be available for 
     the Office of Budget and Policy; not to exceed $4,943,589 
     shall be available for the Office of Research, Demonstration 
     and Innovation; not to exceed $3,234,489 shall be available 
     for the Office of Civil Rights; not to exceed $4,458,289 
     shall be available for the Office of Planning; not to exceed 
     $22,551,290 shall be available for regional offices; and not 
     to exceed $20,719,000 shall be available for the central 
     account: Provided further, That the Administrator is 
     authorized to transfer funds appropriated for an office of 
     the Federal Transit Administration: Provided further, That no 
     appropriation for an office shall be increased or decreased 
     by more than a total of 5 percent during the fiscal year by 
     all such transfers: Provided further, That any change in 
     funding greater than 5 percent shall be submitted for 
     approval to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations: Provided further, That any funding 
     transferred from the central account shall be submitted for 
     approval to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations: Provided further, That none of the funds 
     provided or limited in this Act may be used to create a 
     permanent office of transit security under this heading: 
     Provided further, That of the funds in this Act available for 
     the execution of contracts under section 5327(c) of title 49, 
     United States Code, $2,000,000 shall be reimbursed to the 
     Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General 
     for costs associated with audits and investigations of 
     transit-related issues, including reviews of new fixed 
     guideway systems: Provided further, That upon submission to 
     the Congress of the fiscal year 2009 President's budget, the 
     Secretary of Transportation shall transmit to Congress the 
     annual report on new starts, including proposed allocations 
     of funds for fiscal year 2009.


                         FORMULA AND BUS GRANTS

                  (Liquidation of Contract Authority)

                      (Limitation on Obligations)

                          (highway trust fund)

                         (including rescission)

       For payment of obligations incurred in carrying out the 
     provisions of 49 U.S.C. 5305, 5307, 5308, 5309, 5310, 5311, 
     5316, 5317, 5320, 5335, 5339, and 5340 and section 3038 of 
     Public Law 105-178, as amended, $6,855,000,000, to be derived 
     from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund and 
     to remain available until expended: Provided, That funds 
     available for the implementation or execution of programs 
     authorized under 49 U.S.C. 5305, 5307, 5308, 5309, 5310, 
     5311, 5316, 5317, 5320, 5335, 5339, and 5340 and section 3038 
     of Public Law 105-178, as amended, shall not exceed total 
     obligations of $7,872,893,000 in fiscal year 2008: Provided 
     further, That except as provided in section 3044(b)(1) of 
     Public Law 109-59, funds made available to carry out 49 
     U.S.C. 5308 shall instead be available to carry out 49 U.S.C. 
     5309(b)(3): Provided further, That of the funds available to 
     carry out the bus program under section 5309 of title 49, 
     United States Code, which are not otherwise allocated under 
     this Act or under SAFETEA-LU (Public Law 109-59), not more 
     than 10 percent may be expended to carry out the Urban 
     Partnership Congestion Initiative: Provided further, That 
     $28,660,920 in unobligated balances are rescinded.


                RESEARCH AND UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTERS

       For necessary expenses to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5306, 5312-
     5315, 5322, and 5506, $65,500,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That $9,300,000 is available to carry out 
     the transit cooperative research program under section 5313 
     of title 49, United States Code, $4,300,000 is available for 
     the National Transit Institute under section 5315 of title 
     49, United States Code, and $7,000,000 is available for 
     university transportation centers program under section 5506 
     of title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That 
     $44,900,000 is available to carry out national research 
     programs under sections 5312, 5313, 5314, and 5322 of title 
     49, United States Code.


                       Capital Investment Grants

                         (including rescission)

       For necessary expenses to carry out section 5309 of title 
     49, United States Code, $1,566,000,000, to remain available 
     until expended: Provided, That of the funds available under 
     this heading, amounts are to be made available as follows:
       For section 5309(m)(6)(B) of title 49, United States Code, 
     $15,000,000.
       For section 5309(m)(6)(C) of title 49, United States Code, 
     $5,000,000.
       For the following sections of Public Law 109-59:
       Section 3043(b)(9), $11,200,000;
       Section 3043(d)(35), $18,965,043;
       Section 3043(d)(10), $70,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(18), $5,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(1), $13,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(15), $65,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(21), $125,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(23), $20,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(22), $35,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(231), $30,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(19), $90,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(9), $70,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(7), $51,560,484;
       Section 3043(a)(5), $36,500,000;
       Section 3043(a)(31), $35,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(16), $55,192,995;
       Section 3043(b)(20), $200,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(27), $80,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(20), $33,516,444;
       Section 3043(b)(5), $86,250,000;
       Section 3043(b)(30), $80,000,000;
       Section 3043(a)(30), $70,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(134), $35,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(23), $21,200,000;
       Section 3043(d)(39), $3,000,000;
       Section 3043(b)(14), $500,000;
       Section 3043(c)(86), $20,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(43), $5,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(153), $20,000,000; and
       Section 3043(c)(258), $5,000,000.
       For the Jacksonville Rapid Transit System Phase 1, Florida, 
     $9,870,000;
       For North Corridor BRT, Houston and Southeast Corridor BRT, 
     Texas, $15,000,000;
       For San Francisco Muni Third Street Light Rail, California, 
     $10,000,000;
       For Mid-Jordan Light Rail Extension, $20,000,000; and

[[Page 24266]]

       For METRA Connects, Illinois, $1,300,000: Provided further, 
     That of the funds available under this heading, amounts are 
     to be made available under section 5309(e).
       For the following sections of Public Law 109-59:
       Section 3043(c)(201), $3,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(177), $3,000,000;
       Section 3043(d)(3), $1,500,000;
       Section 3043(c)(182), $2,500,000;
       Section 3043(c)(79), $2,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(197), $6,000,000;
       Section 3043(c)(173), $1,000,000; and
       Section 3043(c)(95), $14,250,000.
       For State Avenue Corridor BRT, Wyandotte County, Kansas, 
     $1,500,000; and
       For Troost Corridor BRT, Missouri, $6,260,000.


       Administrative Provisions--Federal Transit Administration

       Sec. 160. The limitations on obligations for the programs 
     of the Federal Transit Administration shall not apply to any 
     authority under 49 U.S.C. 5338, previously made available for 
     obligation, or to any other authority previously made 
     available for obligation.
       Sec. 161. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 
     made available by this Act under ``Federal Transit 
     Administration, Capital investment grants'' and bus and bus 
     facilities under ``Federal Transit Administration, Formula 
     and bus grants'' for projects specified in this Act or 
     identified in reports accompanying this Act not obligated by 
     September 30, 2010, and other recoveries, shall be made 
     available for other projects under 49 U.S.C. 5309.
       Sec. 162. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any 
     funds appropriated before October 1, 2007, under any section 
     of chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, that remain 
     available for expenditure, may be transferred to and 
     administered under the most recent appropriation heading for 
     any such section.
       Sec. 163. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     unobligated funds made available for a new fixed guideway 
     systems projects under the heading ``Federal Transit 
     Administration, Capital Investment Grants'' in any 
     appropriations Act prior to this Act may be used during this 
     fiscal year to satisfy expenses incurred for such projects.
       Sec. 164. In regard to the Central Link Initial Segment 
     Project, to the extent that funds remain available within the 
     current budget for the project, the Secretary shall amend the 
     Full Funding Grant Agreement for said project to allow 
     remaining funds to be used to support completion of the 
     Airport Link extension of said project.
       Sec. 165. Amounts provided for a high capacity fixed 
     guideway light rail and mass transit project for the City of 
     Albuquerque, New Mexico, in Public Laws 106-69, 106-346 and 
     107-87 shall be available for bus and bus facilities.
       Sec. 166. Any unobligated amounts made available for the 
     Commuter Rail, Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico under the 
     heading ``Capital Investment Grants'' under the heading 
     ``Federal Transit Administration'' in title I of division A 
     of the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban 
     Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and 
     Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 
     109-115; 119 Stat. 2418) shall be made available for public 
     transportation buses, equipment and facilities related to 
     such buses, and intermodal terminal in Albuquerque and Santa 
     Fe, New Mexico, subject to the requirements under section 
     5309 of title 49, United States Code.
       Sec. 167. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 
     made available for the ``Las Vegas Resort Corridor Fixed 
     Guideway Project'', the ``CATRAIL RTC Rail Project'', and the 
     ``Las Vegas, Nevada Monorail Project'' in Nevada in Public 
     Laws 107-87, 108-7, 108-199 and 108-447 may be made available 
     to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada 
     for bus or bus facilities projects eligible under section 
     5307 or section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, and 
     shall remain available until expended.
       Sec. 168. The Administrator of the Federal Transit 
     Administration may conduct a study of the public 
     transportation agencies in the urbanized areas described in 
     section 5337(a) of title 49, United States Code (referred to 
     in this section as ``agencies'').
       (a) The study conducted under subsection (a) shall--
       (1) analyze the state of repair of the agencies' rail 
     infrastructure, including bridges, ties, and rail cars;
       (2) calculate the amount of Federal funding received by the 
     agencies during the 9-year period ending September 30, 2007, 
     pursuant to--
       (A) the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 
     1991 (Public Law 102-240);
       (B) the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century 
     (Public Law 105-178); and
       (C) the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 
     Transportation Equity: A Legacy for Users (Public Law 109-
     59);
       (3) estimate the minimum amount of funding necessary to 
     bring all of the infrastructure described in paragraph (1) 
     into a state of good repair; and
       (4) determine the changes to the rail modernization formula 
     program that would be required to bring all of the 
     infrastructure described in paragraph (1) into a state of 
     good repair.
       (b) Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
     of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the Committee 
     on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report that 
     contains the results of the study conducted under this 
     section.
       Sec. 169. The second sentence of section 321 of the 
     Department of Transportation and Related Agencies 
     Appropriations Act, 1986 (99 Stat. 1287) is repealed.
       Sec. 170. None of the funds provided or limited under this 
     Act may be used to issue a final regulation under section 
     5309 of title 49, United States Code.

             Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

       The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation is hereby 
     authorized to make such expenditures, within the limits of 
     funds and borrowing authority available to the Corporation, 
     and in accord with law, and to make such contracts and 
     commitments without regard to fiscal year limitations as 
     provided by section 104 of the Government Corporation Control 
     Act, as amended, as may be necessary in carrying out the 
     programs set forth in the Corporation's budget for the 
     current fiscal year.


                       Operations and Maintenance

                    (harbor maintenance trust fund)

       For necessary expenses for operations and maintenance of 
     those portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway operated and 
     maintained by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development 
     Corporation, $17,392,000, to be derived from the Harbor 
     Maintenance Trust Fund, pursuant to Public Law 99-662.

                        Maritime Administration


                       Maritime Security Program

       For necessary expenses to maintain and preserve a U.S.-flag 
     merchant fleet to serve the national security needs of the 
     United States, $156,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended.


                        Operations and Training

       For necessary expenses of operations and training 
     activities authorized by law, $122,890,545, of which 
     $24,720,000 shall remain available until September 30, 2008, 
     for salaries and benefits of employees of the United States 
     Merchant Marine Academy; of which $13,850,000 shall remain 
     available until expended for capital improvements at the 
     United States Merchant Marine Academy; and of which 
     $10,500,000 shall remain available until expended for 
     maintenance and repair of Schoolships at State Maritime 
     Schools.


                             Ship Disposal

       For necessary expenses related to the disposal of obsolete 
     vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet of the Maritime 
     Administration, $18,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended.


                     ASSISTANCE TO SMALL SHIPYARDS

       To make grants for capital improvements and related 
     infrastructure improvements at qualified shipyards that will 
     facilitate the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality of 
     domestic ship construction for commercial and Federal 
     Government use as authorized under section 3506 of Public Law 
     109-163, $20,000,000, to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That to be considered for assistance, a qualified 
     shipyard shall submit an application for assistance no later 
     than 60 days after enactment of this Act: Provided further, 
     That from applications submitted under the previous proviso, 
     the Secretary of Transportation shall make grants no later 
     than 120 days after enactment of this Act in such amounts as 
     the Secretary determines: Provided further, That not to 
     exceed 2 percent of the funds appropriated under this heading 
     shall be available for necessary costs of grant 
     administration.


          Maritime Guaranteed Loan (Title XI) Program Account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, as authorized, 
     $13,408,000, of which $10,000,000 shall remain available 
     until expended: Provided, That such costs, including the cost 
     of modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 
     of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended: Provided 
     further, That the Inspector General shall report to the House 
     and Senate Committees on Appropriations by March 30, 2007, on 
     whether the Maritime Administration is in compliance with the 
     recommendations contained in the Inspector General's audit 
     reports on the title XI program: Provided further, That not 
     to exceed $3,408,000 shall be available for administrative 
     expenses to carry out the guaranteed loan program, which 
     shall be transferred to and merged with the appropriation for 
     ``Operations and Training'', Maritime Administration.


                           Ship Construction

                              (rescission)

       Of the unobligated balances available under this heading, 
     $4,614,545 are rescinded.


           Administrative Provisions--Maritime Administration

       Sec. 170. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 
     the Maritime Administration is authorized to furnish 
     utilities and services and make necessary repairs in 
     connection with any lease, contract, or occupancy involving 
     Government property under control of the Maritime 
     Administration, and payments received therefor shall be 
     credited to the appropriation charged with the cost thereof: 
     Provided, That rental payments under any such lease, 
     contract, or occupancy for items other than such utilities, 
     services, or repairs shall be covered into the Treasury as 
     miscellaneous receipts.
       Sec. 171. No obligations shall be incurred during the 
     current fiscal year from the construction fund established by 
     the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), 
     or otherwise, in excess of the appropriations and limitations 
     contained in this Act or in any prior appropriations Act.

[[Page 24267]]



         Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration


                        Administrative Expenses

       For necessary administrative expenses of the Pipeline and 
     Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, $18,130,000, of 
     which $639,000 shall be derived from the Pipeline Safety 
     Fund.


                       hazardous materials safety

       For expenses necessary to discharge the hazardous materials 
     safety functions of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 
     Safety Administration, $27,003,000, of which $1,761,000 shall 
     remain available until September 30, 2010: Provided, That up 
     to $1,200,000 in fees collected under 49 U.S.C. 5108(g) shall 
     be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury as 
     offsetting receipts: Provided further, That there may be 
     credited to this appropriation, to be available until 
     expended, funds received from States, counties, 
     municipalities, other public authorities, and private sources 
     for expenses incurred for training, for reports publication 
     and dissemination, and for travel expenses incurred in 
     performance of hazardous materials exemptions and approvals 
     functions.


                            Pipeline Safety

                         (pipeline safety fund)

                    (oil spill liability trust fund)

       For expenses necessary to conduct the functions of the 
     pipeline safety program, for grants-in-aid to carry out a 
     pipeline safety program, as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 60107, 
     and to discharge the pipeline program responsibilities of the 
     Oil Pollution Act of 1990, $82,404,000, of which $18,810,000 
     shall be derived from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and 
     shall remain available until September 30, 2010; of which 
     $63,594,000 shall be derived from the Pipeline Safety Fund, 
     of which $32,967,000 shall remain available until September 
     30, 2010: Provided, That not less than $1,043,000 of the 
     funds provided under this heading shall be for the one-call 
     State grant program.


                     Emergency Preparedness Grants

                     (emergency preparedness fund)

       For necessary expenses to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5128(b), 
     $188,000, to be derived from the Emergency Preparedness Fund, 
     to remain available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That 
     not more than $28,318,000 shall be made available for 
     obligation in fiscal year 2008 from amounts made available by 
     49 U.S.C. 5116(i) and 5128(b)-(c): Provided further, That 
     none of the funds made available by 49 U.S.C. 5116(i), 
     5128(b), or 5128(c) shall be made available for obligation by 
     individuals other than the Secretary of Transportation, or 
     her designee.

           Research and Innovative Technology Administration


                        Research and Development

       For necessary expenses of the Research and Innovative 
     Technology Administration, $12,000,000, of which $6,036,000 
     shall remain available until September 30, 2010: Provided, 
     That there may be credited to this appropriation, to be 
     available until expended, funds received from States, 
     counties, municipalities, other public authorities, and 
     private sources for expenses incurred for training.

                      Office of Inspector General


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General 
     to carry out the provisions of the Inspector General Act of 
     1978, as amended, $66,400,000: Provided, That the Inspector 
     General shall have all necessary authority, in carrying out 
     the duties specified in the Inspector General Act, as amended 
     (5 U.S.C. App. 3), to investigate allegations of fraud, 
     including false statements to the government (18 U.S.C. 
     1001), by any person or entity that is subject to regulation 
     by the Department: Provided further, That the funds made 
     available under this heading shall be used to investigate, 
     pursuant to section 41712 of title 49, United States Code: 
     (1) unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of 
     competition by domestic and foreign air carriers and ticket 
     agents; and (2) the compliance of domestic and foreign air 
     carriers with respect to item (1) of this proviso.

                      Surface Transportation Board


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Surface Transportation Board, 
     including services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, $25,000,000: 
     Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     not to exceed $1,250,000 from fees established by the 
     Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board shall be 
     credited to this appropriation as offsetting collections and 
     used for necessary and authorized expenses under this 
     heading: Provided further, That the sum herein appropriated 
     from the general fund shall be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar 
     basis as such offsetting collections are received during 
     fiscal year 2008, to result in a final appropriation from the 
     general fund estimated at no more than $23,750,000.

            General Provisions--Department of Transportation


                     (including transfers of funds)

       Sec. 180. During the current fiscal year applicable 
     appropriations to the Department of Transportation shall be 
     available for maintenance and operation of aircraft; hire of 
     passenger motor vehicles and aircraft; purchase of liability 
     insurance for motor vehicles operating in foreign countries 
     on official department business; and uniforms or allowances 
     therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901-5902).
       Sec. 181. Appropriations contained in this Act for the 
     Department of Transportation shall be available for services 
     as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, but at rates for individuals 
     not to exceed the per diem rate equivalent to the rate for an 
     Executive Level IV.
       Sec. 182. None of the funds in this Act shall be available 
     for salaries and expenses of more than 110 political and 
     Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation: 
     Provided, That none of the personnel covered by this 
     provision may be assigned on temporary detail outside the 
     Department of Transportation.
       Sec. 183. None of the funds in this Act shall be used to 
     implement section 404 of title 23, United States Code.
       Sec. 184. (a) No recipient of funds made available in this 
     Act shall disseminate personal information (as defined in 18 
     U.S.C. 2725(3)) obtained by a State department of motor 
     vehicles in connection with a motor vehicle record as defined 
     in 18 U.S.C. 2725(1), except as provided in 18 U.S.C. 2721 
     for a use permitted under 18 U.S.C. 2721.
       (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary shall not 
     withhold funds provided in this Act for any grantee if a 
     State is in noncompliance with this provision.
       Sec. 185. Funds received by the Federal Highway 
     Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Federal 
     Railroad Administration from States, counties, 
     municipalities, other public authorities, and private sources 
     for expenses incurred for training may be credited 
     respectively to the Federal Highway Administration's 
     ``Federal-Aid Highways'' account, the Federal Transit 
     Administration's ``Research and University Research Centers'' 
     account, and to the Federal Railroad Administration's 
     ``Safety and Operations'' account, except for State rail 
     safety inspectors participating in training pursuant to 49 
     U.S.C. 20105.
       Sec. 186. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, rule 
     or regulation, the Secretary of Transportation is authorized 
     to allow the issuer of any preferred stock heretofore sold to 
     the Department to redeem or repurchase such stock upon the 
     payment to the Department of an amount determined by the 
     Secretary.
       Sec. 187. None of the funds in this Act to the Department 
     of Transportation may be used to make a grant unless the 
     Secretary of Transportation notifies the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations not less than 3 full business 
     days before any discretionary grant award, letter of intent, 
     or full funding grant agreement totaling $1,000,000 or more 
     is announced by the department or its modal administrations 
     from: (1) any discretionary grant program of the Federal 
     Highway Administration including the emergency relief 
     program; (2) the airport improvement program of the Federal 
     Aviation Administration; or (3) any program of the Federal 
     Transit Administration other than the formula grants and 
     fixed guideway modernization programs: Provided, That no 
     notification shall involve funds that are not available for 
     obligation.
       Sec. 188. Rebates, refunds, incentive payments, minor fees 
     and other funds received by the Department of Transportation 
     from travel management centers, charge card programs, the 
     subleasing of building space, and miscellaneous sources are 
     to be credited to appropriations of the Department of 
     Transportation and allocated to elements of the Department of 
     Transportation using fair and equitable criteria and such 
     funds shall be available until expended.
       Sec. 189. Amounts made available in this or any other Act 
     that the Secretary determines represent improper payments by 
     the Department of Transportation to a third party contractor 
     under a financial assistance award, which are recovered 
     pursuant to law, shall be available--
       (1) to reimburse the actual expenses incurred by the 
     Department of Transportation in recovering improper payments; 
     and
       (2) to pay contractors for services provided in recovering 
     improper payments or contractor support in the implementation 
     of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002: Provided, 
     That amounts in excess of that required for paragraphs (1) 
     and (2)--
       (A) shall be credited to and merged with the appropriation 
     from which the improper payments were made, and shall be 
     available for the purposes and period for which such 
     appropriations are available; or
       (B) if no such appropriation remains available, shall be 
     deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts: 
     Provided, That prior to the transfer of any such recovery to 
     an appropriations account, the Secretary shall notify the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations of the amount 
     and reasons for such transfer: Provided further, That for 
     purposes of this section, the term ``improper payments'', has 
     the same meaning as that provided in section 2(d)(2) of 
     Public Law 107-300.
       Sec. 190. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if 
     any funds provided in or limited by this Act are subject to a 
     reprogramming action that requires notice to be provided to 
     the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, said 
     reprogramming action shall be approved or denied solely by 
     the Committees on Appropriations: Provided, That the 
     Secretary may provide notice to other congressional 
     committees of the action of the Committees on Appropriations 
     on such reprogramming but not sooner than 30 days following 
     the date on which the reprogramming action has been approved 
     or denied by the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations.
       Sec. 191. Out of funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available under this Act to the Surface Transportation Board 
     of the Department of

[[Page 24268]]

     Transportation, when considering cases, matters, or 
     declaratory orders before the Board involving a railroad, or 
     an entity claiming or seeking authority to operate as a 
     railroad, and the transportation of solid waste (as defined 
     in section 1004 of 42 U.S.C. 6903), the Board shall consider 
     any activity involving the receipt, delivery, sorting, 
     handling or transfer in-transit outside of a sealed 
     container, storage other than inside a sealed container, or 
     other processing of solid waste to be an activity over which 
     the Board does not have jurisdiction.
       Sec. 192. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available under this Act may be used by the Surface 
     Transportation Board of the Department of Transportation to 
     charge or collect any filing fee for rate complaints filed 
     with the Board in an amount in excess of the amount 
     authorized for district court civil suit filing fees under 
     section 1914 of title 28, United States Code.
       Sec. 193. Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the 
     Department of Transportation shall--
       (1) conduct an investigation of rail service disruptions 
     since 2004 and incidents since 2004 in which rail carriers 
     failed to timely deliver various commodities, such as coal, 
     wheat, ethanol, potatoes, specialty crops, and lumber; and
       (2) submit a report containing legislative and regulatory 
     recommendations designed to reduce such disruptions and 
     incidents and to improve railroad service to--
       (A) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
       (B) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (C) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
     of the Senate; and
       (D) the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 
     the House of Representatives.
       Sec. 194. None of the funds made available under this Act 
     may be used to establish a cross-border motor carrier 
     demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor 
     carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the 
     international border between the United States and Mexico.
       Sec. 195. Not later than 30 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
     establish and maintain on the homepage of the Internet 
     website of the Department of Transportation--
       (1) a direct link to the Internet website of the Office of 
     Inspector General of the Department of Transportation; and
       (2) a mechanism by which individuals may anonymously report 
     cases of waste, fraud, or abuse with respect to the 
     Department of Transportation.
       Sec. 196. Prohibition on Imposition and Collection of Tolls 
     on Certain Highways Constructed Using Federal Funds. (a) 
     Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Federal highway facility.--
       (A) In general.--The term ``Federal highway facility'' 
     means--
       (i) any highway, bridge, or tunnel on the Interstate System 
     that is constructed using Federal funds; or
       (ii) any United States highway.
       (B) Exclusion.--The term ``Federal highway facility'' does 
     not include any right-of-way for any highway, bridge, or 
     tunnel described in subparagraph (A).
       (2) Tolling provision.--The term ``tolling provision'' 
     means section 1216(b) of the Transportation Equity Act for 
     the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 129 note; 112 Stat. 212);
       (b) Prohibition.--
       (1) In general.--None of the funds made available by this 
     Act shall be used to consider or approve an application to 
     permit the imposition or collection of any toll on any 
     portion of a Federal highway facility in the State of Texas--
       (A)(i) that is in existence on the date of enactment of 
     this Act; and
       (ii) on which no toll is imposed or collected under a 
     tolling provision on that date of enactment; or
       (B) that would result in the Federal highway facility 
     having fewer non-toll lanes than before the date on which the 
     toll was first imposed or collected.
       (2) Exemption.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the 
     imposition or collection of a toll on a Federal highway 
     facility--
       (A) on which a toll is imposed or collected under a tolling 
     provision on the date of enactment of this Act; or
       (B) that is constructed, under construction, or the subject 
     of an application for construction submitted to the 
     Secretary, after the date of enactment of this Act.
       (c) State Buy-Back.--None of the funds made available by 
     this Act shall be used to impose or collect a toll on a 
     Federal highway facility in the State of Texas that is 
     purchased by the State of Texas on or after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
       Sec. 197. The Secretary of Transportation may conduct a 
     study of the use of non-hazardous recycled aggregates and 
     other materials, including reused concrete and asphalt, in 
     highway projects, to the maximum extent practicable and 
     whenever economically feasible and consistent with public 
     health and environmental laws.
       This title may be cited as the ``Department of 
     Transportation Appropriations Act, 2008''.

                                TITLE II

              DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

                        Office of the Secretary


                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, $3,930,000: 
     Provided, That not to exceed $25,000 of this amount shall be 
     available for official reception and representation expenses.

                          Executive Operations


                     OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Hearings and Appeals, $1,490,000.


         OFFICE OF SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS UTILIZATION

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, $510,000.


                 OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     the Chief Financial Officer, $43,750,000.


                     OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     the General Counsel, $86,820,000.


                OFFICE OF THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     the Chief Procurement Officer, $13,500,000.


            CENTER FOR FAITH-BASED AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Center for 
     Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, $1,860,000.


        OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONGRESSIONAL AND 
                      INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental 
     Relations, $2,670,000: Provided, That the Secretary shall 
     provide the Committee on Appropriations quarterly written 
     notification regarding the status of pending congressional 
     reports.


          OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, $2,630,000.


          OFFICE OF DEPARTMENTAL EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity, $3,440,000.

                       Administrative Activities


          OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Administration, $1,480,000.


                  ADMINISTRATION SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Administration, $251,630,000: Provided, That funds provided 
     under the heading may be used for necessary administrative 
     and non-administrative expenses of the Department of Housing 
     and Urban Development, not otherwise provided for, including 
     purchase of uniforms, or allowances therefor, as authorized 
     by 5 U.S.C. 5901-5902; hire of passenger motor vehicles; 
     services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109.


           OFFICE OF DEPARTMENTAL OPERATIONS AND COORDINATION

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Departmental Operations and Coordination, $12,520,000.


                 OFFICE OF FIELD POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Field Policy and Management, $47,730,000.

                       Public and Indian Housing


    OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, 
     $1,620,000.


            PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of Public 
     and Indian Housing, $188,340,000.


                     Tenant-Based Rental Assistance

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For activities and assistance for the provision of tenant-
     based rental assistance authorized under the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) 
     (``the Act'' herein), not otherwise provided for, 
     $16,598,694,000, to remain available until expended, of which 
     $12,398,694,000 shall be available on October 1, 2007, and 
     $4,200,000,000 shall be available on October 1, 2008: 
     Provided, That the amounts made available under this heading 
     are provided as follows:
       (1) $14,936,200,000 for renewals of expiring section 8 
     tenant-based annual contributions contracts (including 
     renewals of enhanced vouchers under any provision of law 
     authorizing such assistance under section 8(t) of the Act): 
     Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     from amounts provided under this paragraph, the Secretary for 
     the calendar year 2008 funding cycle shall provide renewal 
     funding for each public housing agency based on voucher 
     management system (VMS) leasing and cost data for the most 
     recently completed period of 12 consecutive months for which 
     the Secretary determines the data is verifiable and complete 
     and by applying the 2008 Annual Adjustment Factor as 
     established by the Secretary, and by making any necessary 
     adjustments for the costs associated with the first-time 
     renewal of tenant protection or HOPE VI vouchers or vouchers 
     that were not in use during the 12-month period in order to 
     be available to meet a commitment pursuant to section 
     8(o)(13) of the Act: Provided

[[Page 24269]]

     further, That notwithstanding the first proviso, except for 
     applying the 2008 Annual Adjustment Factor and making any 
     other specified adjustments, public housing agencies 
     specified in category 1 below shall receive funding for 
     calendar year 2008 based on the higher of the amounts the 
     agencies would receive under the first proviso or the amounts 
     the agencies received in calendar year 2007, and public 
     housing agencies specified in categories 2 and 3 below shall 
     receive funding for calendar year 2008 equal to the amounts 
     the agencies received in calendar year 2007, except that 
     public housing agencies specified in categories 1 and 2 below 
     shall receive funding under this proviso only if, and to the 
     extent that, any such public housing agency submits a plan, 
     approved by the Secretary, that demonstrates that the agency 
     can effectively use within 12 months the funding that the 
     agency would receive under this proviso that is in addition 
     to the funding that the agency would receive under the first 
     proviso: (1) public housing agencies that are eligible for 
     assistance under section 901 in Public Law 109-148 (119 Stat. 
     2781) or are located in the same counties as those eligible 
     under section 901 and operate voucher programs under section 
     8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 but do not 
     operate public housing under section 9 of such Act, and any 
     public housing agency that otherwise qualifies under this 
     category must demonstrate that they have experienced a loss 
     of rental housing stock as a result of the 2005 hurricanes; 
     (2) public housing agencies that would receive less funding 
     under the first proviso than they would receive under this 
     proviso and that have been placed in receivership within the 
     24 months preceding the date of enactment of this Act; and 
     (3) public housing agencies that spent more in calendar year 
     2007 than the total of the amounts of any such public housing 
     agency's allocation amount for calendar year 2007 and the 
     amount of any such public housing agency's available housing 
     assistance payments undesignated funds balance from calendar 
     year 2006 and the amount of any such public housing agency's 
     available administrative fees undesignated funds balance 
     through calendar year 2007: Provided further, That up to 
     $100,000,000 shall be available only: (1) to adjust the 
     allocations for public housing agencies, after application 
     for an adjustment by a public housing agency that experienced 
     a significant increase, as determined by the Secretary, in 
     renewal costs resulting from unforeseen circumstances or from 
     portability under section 8(r) of the Act of tenant-based 
     rental assistance; and (2) for adjustments for public housing 
     agencies that could experience a significant decrease in 
     voucher funding that could result in the risk of loss of 
     voucher units due to the use of VMS data based on a 12-month 
     period: Provided further, That none of the funds provided 
     under the first proviso in this section may be used to 
     support a total number of unit months under lease which 
     exceeds a public housing agency's authorized level of units 
     under contract: Provided further, That the Secretary shall, 
     to the extent necessary to stay within the amount provided 
     under this paragraph, pro rate each public housing agency's 
     allocation otherwise established pursuant to this paragraph: 
     Provided further, That except as provided in the following 
     proviso, the entire amount provided under this paragraph 
     shall be obligated to the public housing agencies based on 
     the allocation and pro rata method described above and the 
     Secretary shall notify public housing agencies of their 
     annual budget not later than 90 days after enactment of this 
     Act: Provided further, That public housing agencies 
     participating in the Moving to Work demonstration shall be 
     funded pursuant to their Moving to Work agreements and shall 
     be subject to the same pro rata adjustments under the 
     previous proviso;
       (2) $150,000,000 for section 8 rental assistance for 
     relocation and replacement of housing units that are 
     demolished or disposed of pursuant to the Omnibus 
     Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996 
     (Public Law 104-134), conversion of section 23 projects to 
     assistance under section 8, the family unification program 
     under section 8(x) of the Act, relocation of witnesses in 
     connection with efforts to combat crime in public and 
     assisted housing pursuant to a request from a law enforcement 
     or prosecution agency, enhanced vouchers under any provision 
     of law authorizing such assistance under section 8(t) of the 
     Act, HOPE VI vouchers, mandatory and voluntary conversions, 
     and tenant protection assistance including replacement and 
     relocation assistance: Provided, That the Secretary shall 
     provide replacement vouchers for all units that cease to be 
     available as assisted housing due to demolition, disposition, 
     or conversion, subject only to the availability of funds;
       (3) $50,000,000 for family self-sufficiency coordinators 
     under section 23 of the Act;
       (4) up to $6,494,000 may be transferred to the Working 
     Capital Fund;
       (5) $1,351,000,000 for administrative and other expenses of 
     public housing agencies in administering the section 8 
     tenant-based rental assistance program, of which up to 
     $5,000,000 shall be available as an incentive bonus as 
     determined by the Secretary for administrative expenses for 
     PHAs that voluntarily consolidate, and which up to 
     $35,000,000 shall be available to the Secretary to allocate 
     to public housing agencies that need additional funds to 
     administer their section 8 programs, with up to $30,000,000 
     to be for fees associated with section 8 tenant protection 
     rental assistance: Provided, That no less than $1,311,000,000 
     of the amount provided in this paragraph shall be allocated 
     for the calendar year 2008 funding cycle on a basis to public 
     housing agencies as provided in section 8(q) of the Act as in 
     effect immediately before the enactment of the Quality 
     Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-
     276): Provided further, That if the amounts made available 
     under this paragraph are insufficient to pay the amounts 
     required by this paragraph, the Secretary may decrease the 
     amounts allocated to agencies by a uniform prorated 
     percentage applicable to all agencies receiving funding under 
     this paragraph or may, to the extent necessary to provide 
     full payment of amounts required under this paragraph, 
     utilize unobligated balances, including recaptures and 
     carryovers, remaining from funds appropriated to the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development under this 
     heading, the heading ``Annual Contributions for Assisted 
     Housing'', the heading ``Housing Certificate Fund'', and the 
     heading ``Project-based rental assistance'', for fiscal year 
     2007 and prior years, notwithstanding the purposes for which 
     such amounts were appropriated: Provided further, That all 
     amounts provided under this paragraph shall be only for 
     activities related to the provision of tenant-based rental 
     assistance authorized under section 8, including related 
     development activities;
       (6) $30,000,000 for incremental voucher assistance through 
     the Family Unification Program; and
       (7) $75,000,000 for incremental rental voucher assistance 
     for use through a supported housing program administered in 
     conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs as 
     authorized under section 8(o)(19) of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937: Provided, That the Secretary of Housing 
     and Urban Development shall make such funding available, 
     notwithstanding section 305 (competition provision) of this 
     title, to public housing agencies that partner with eligible 
     VA Medical Centers or other entities as designated by the 
     Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, based on 
     geographical need for such assistance as identified by the 
     Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, public 
     housing agency administrative performance, and other factors 
     as specified by the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development in consultation with the Secretary of the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs: Provided further, That the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may waive, or 
     specify alternative requirements for (in consultation with 
     the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs), any 
     provision of any statute or regulation that the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development administers in connection with 
     the use of funds made available under this paragraph (except 
     for requirements related to fair housing, nondiscrimination, 
     labor standards, and the environment), upon a finding by the 
     Secretary that any such waivers or alternative requirements 
     are necessary for the effective delivery and administration 
     of such voucher assistance: Provided further, That assistance 
     made available under this paragraph shall continue to remain 
     available for homeless veterans upon turnover.


                        Housing Certificate Fund

                              (rescission)

       Of the unobligated balances, including recaptures and 
     carryover, remaining from funds appropriated to the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development under this 
     heading, the heading ``Annual contributions for assisted 
     housing'', the heading ``Tenant-based rental assistance'', 
     and the heading ``Project-based rental assistance'', for 
     fiscal year 2007 and prior years, $1,100,000,000 are 
     rescinded, to be effected by the Secretary no later than 
     September 30, 2008: Provided, That, if insufficient funds 
     exist under these headings, the remaining balance may be 
     derived from any other heading under this title: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary shall notify the Committees on 
     Appropriations 30 days in advance of the rescission of any 
     funds derived from the headings specified above: Provided 
     further, That any such balances governed by reallocation 
     provisions under the statute authorizing the program for 
     which the funds were originally appropriated shall be 
     available for the rescission: Provided further, That any 
     obligated balances of contract authority from fiscal year 
     1974 and prior that have been terminated shall be cancelled.


                    Project-Based Rental Assistance

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For activities and assistance for the provision of project-
     based subsidy contracts under the United States Housing Act 
     of 1937, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) (``the Act'' 
     herein), not otherwise provided for, $5,813,000,000, to 
     remain available until expended: Provided, That the amounts 
     made available under this heading are provided as follows:
       (1) up to $5,522,810,000 for expiring or terminating 
     section 8 project-based subsidy contracts (including section 
     8 moderate rehabilitation contracts), for amendments to 
     section 8 project-based subsidy contracts (including section 
     8 moderate rehabilitation contracts), for contracts entered 
     into pursuant to section 441 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
     Assistance Act, for renewal of section 8 contracts for units 
     in projects that are subject to approved plans of action 
     under the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act of 
     1987 or the Low-Income Housing Preservation and Resident 
     Homeownership Act of 1990, and for administrative and other 
     expenses associated with project-based activities and 
     assistance funded under this paragraph.
       (2) not to exceed $286,230,000 for performance-based 
     contract administrators for section 8 project-based 
     assistance: Provided, That the Secretary may also use such 
     amounts for performance-based contract administrators for: 
     interest reduction payments pursuant to section

[[Page 24270]]

     236(a) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1(a)); 
     rent supplement payments pursuant to section 101 of the 
     Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s); 
     section 236(f)(2) rental assistance payments (12 U.S.C. 
     1715z-1(f)(2)); project rental assistance contracts for the 
     elderly under section 202(c)(2) of the Housing Act of 1959, 
     as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701q, 1701q-1); project rental 
     assistance contracts for supportive housing for persons with 
     disabilities under section 811(d)(2) of the Cranston-Gonzalez 
     National Affordable Housing Act; project assistance contracts 
     pursuant to section 202(h) of the Housing Act of 1959 (Public 
     Law 86-372; 73 Stat. 667); and loans under section 202 of the 
     Housing Act of 1959 (Public Law 86-372; 73 Stat. 667).
       (3) not to exceed $3,960,000 may be transferred to the 
     Working Capital Fund; and
       (4) amounts recaptured under this heading, the heading 
     ``Annual Contributions for Assisted Housing'', or the heading 
     ``Housing Certificate Fund'' may be used for renewals of or 
     amendments to section 8 project-based contracts or for 
     performance-based contract administrators, notwithstanding 
     the purposes for which such amounts were appropriated.


                      Public Housing Capital Fund

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the Public Housing Capital Fund Program to carry out 
     capital and management activities for public housing 
     agencies, as authorized under section 9 of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1437g) (the 
     ``Act'') $2,500,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2011: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law or regulation, during fiscal year 2008, the Secretary 
     may not delegate to any Department official other than the 
     Deputy Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for Public and 
     Indian Housing any authority under paragraph (2) of section 
     9(j) regarding the extension of the time periods under such 
     section: Provided further, That for purposes of such section 
     9(j), the term ``obligate'' means, with respect to amounts, 
     that the amounts are subject to a binding agreement that will 
     result in outlays, immediately or in the future: Provided 
     further, That of the total amount provided under this 
     heading, up to $14,890,000 shall be for carrying out 
     activities under section 9(h) of such Act; not to exceed 
     $16,847,000 may be transferred to the Working Capital Fund; 
     and up to $15,345,000 shall be to support the ongoing Public 
     Housing Financial and Physical Assessment activities of the 
     Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC): Provided further, That 
     no funds may be used under this heading for the purposes 
     specified in section 9(k) of the United States Housing Act of 
     1937, as amended: Provided further, That of the total amount 
     provided under this heading, not to exceed $20,000,000 may be 
     available for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     to make grants, notwithstanding section 305 of this Act, to 
     public housing agencies for emergency capital needs resulting 
     from unforeseen or unpreventable emergencies and natural 
     disasters occurring in fiscal year 2008: Provided further, 
     That of the total amount provided under this heading, 
     $40,000,000 shall be for supportive services, service 
     coordinators and congregate services as authorized by section 
     34 of the Act and the Native American Housing Assistance and 
     Self-Determination Act of 1996: Provided further, That of the 
     total amount provided under this heading up to $8,820,000 is 
     to support the costs of administrative and judicial 
     receiverships: Provided further, That, notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law or regulation, or any independent 
     decision of the Secretary, during fiscal year 2008, the 
     Secretary shall, in accordance with part 905.10(j) of title 
     24, Code of Federal Regulations and from amounts made 
     available under this heading, award performance bonuses to 
     public housing agencies that are designated high performers 
     under the Public Housing Assessment System for the 2007 
     fiscal year.


                     Public Housing Operating Fund

       For 2008 payments to public housing agencies for the 
     operation and management of public housing, as authorized by 
     section 9(e) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as 
     amended (42 U.S.C. 1437g(e)), $4,200,000,000; of which 
     $5,940,000 shall be for technical assistance related to the 
     transition and implementation of asset-based management in 
     public housing: Provided, That, in fiscal year 2008 and all 
     fiscal years hereafter, no amounts under this heading in any 
     appropriations Act may be used for payments to public housing 
     agencies for the costs of operation and management of public 
     housing for any year prior to the current year of such Act: 
     Provided further, That no funds may be used under this 
     heading for the purposes specified in section 9(k) of the 
     United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended.


     Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing (Hope VI)

       For grants to public housing agencies for demolition, site 
     revitalization, replacement housing, and tenant-based 
     assistance grants to projects as authorized by section 24 of 
     the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, 
     $100,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2008, 
     of which not to exceed $1,980,000 may be used for technical 
     assistance and contract expertise, to be provided directly or 
     indirectly by grants, contracts or cooperative agreements, 
     including training and cost of necessary travel for 
     participants in such training, by or to officials and 
     employees of the department and of public housing agencies 
     and to residents: Provided, That none of such funds shall be 
     used directly or indirectly by granting competitive advantage 
     in awards to settle litigation or pay judgments, unless 
     expressly permitted herein.


                  Native American Housing Block Grants

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the Native American Housing Block Grants program, as 
     authorized under title I of the Native American Housing 
     Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) (25 
     U.S.C. 4111 et seq.), $630,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That, notwithstanding the Native American 
     Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, to 
     determine the amount of the allocation under title I of such 
     Act for each Indian tribe, the Secretary shall apply the 
     formula under section 302 of such Act with the need component 
     based on single-race Census data and with the need component 
     based on multi-race Census data, and the amount of the 
     allocation for each Indian tribe shall be the greater of the 
     two resulting allocation amounts: Provided further, That of 
     the amounts made available under this heading, $2,000,000 
     shall be contracted through the Secretary as technical 
     assistance and capacity building to be used by the National 
     American Indian Housing Council in support of the 
     implementation of NAHASDA; and $4,250,000 shall be to support 
     the inspection of Indian housing units, contract expertise, 
     training, and technical assistance in the training, 
     oversight, and management of such Indian housing and tenant-
     based assistance, including up to $300,000 for related 
     travel: Provided further, That of the amount provided under 
     this heading, $1,980,000 shall be made available for the cost 
     of guaranteed notes and other obligations, as authorized by 
     title VI of NAHASDA: Provided further, That such costs, 
     including the costs of modifying such notes and other 
     obligations, shall be as defined in section 502 of the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended: Provided 
     further, That these funds are available to subsidize the 
     total principal amount of any notes and other obligations, 
     any part of which is to be guaranteed, not to exceed 
     $17,000,000.


                  native hawaiian housing block grant

       For the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program, as 
     authorized under title VIII of the Native American Housing 
     Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4111 
     et seq.), $9,000,000, to remain available until expended, of 
     which $300,000 shall be for training and technical assistance 
     activities.


           Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Fund Program Account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, as authorized by section 
     184 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (12 
     U.S.C. 1715z-13a), $7,450,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That such costs, including the costs of 
     modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of 
     the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended: Provided 
     further, That these funds are available to subsidize total 
     loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed, up to 
     $367,000,000.


      Native Hawaiian Housing Loan Guarantee Fund Program Account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, as authorized by section 
     184A of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (12 
     U.S.C. 1715z-13b), $1,044,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That such costs, including the costs of 
     modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of 
     the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended: Provided 
     further, That these funds are available to subsidize total 
     loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed, not to 
     exceed $41,504,255.

                   Community Planning and Development


     OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING AND 
                              DEVELOPMENT

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, 
     $1,520,000.


        COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Community Planning and Development mission area, $93,770,000.


              Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For carrying out the Housing Opportunities for Persons with 
     AIDS program, as authorized by the AIDS Housing Opportunity 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.), $300,100,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009, except that amounts 
     allocated pursuant to section 854(c)(3) of such Act shall 
     remain available until September 30, 2010: Provided, That the 
     Secretary shall renew all expiring contracts for permanent 
     supportive housing that were funded under section 854(c)(3) 
     of such Act that meet all program requirements before 
     awarding funds for new contracts and activities authorized 
     under this section: Provided further, That the Secretary may 
     use not to exceed $1,485,000 of the funds under this heading 
     for training, oversight, and technical assistance activities; 
     and not to exceed $1,485,000 may be transferred to the 
     Working Capital Fund.


                 Rural Housing and Economic Development

       For the Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development in 
     the Department of Housing and Urban Development, $17,000,000, 
     to remain available until expended, which amount shall be 
     competitively awarded by September 1, 2008, to Indian tribes, 
     State housing finance agencies, State community and/or 
     economic development agencies, local rural nonprofits and

[[Page 24271]]

     community development corporations to support innovative 
     housing and economic development activities in rural areas.


                       Community Development Fund

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For assistance to units of State and local government, and 
     to other entities, for economic and community development 
     activities, and for other purposes, $4,060,000,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2010, unless otherwise 
     specified: Provided, That of the amount provided, 
     $3,705,430,000 is for carrying out the community development 
     block grant program under title I of the Housing and 
     Community Development Act of 1974, as amended (the ``Act'' 
     herein) (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.): Provided further, That 
     unless explicitly provided for under this heading (except for 
     planning grants provided in the second paragraph and amounts 
     made available under the third paragraph), not to exceed 20 
     percent of any grant made with funds appropriated under this 
     heading shall be expended for planning and management 
     development and administration: Provided further, That not to 
     exceed $1,570,000 may be transferred to the Working Capital 
     Fund: Provided further, That $3,000,000 is for technical 
     assistance as authorized by section 107(b)(4) of such Act: 
     Provided further, That $62,000,000 shall be for grants to 
     Indian tribes notwithstanding section 106(a)(1) of such Act, 
     of which, notwithstanding any other provision of law 
     (including section 305 of this Act), up to $3,960,000 may be 
     used for emergencies that constitute imminent threats to 
     health and safety.
       Of the amount made available under this heading, 
     $248,000,000 shall be available for grants for the Economic 
     Development Initiative (EDI) to finance a variety of targeted 
     economic investments: Provided, That none of the funds 
     provided under this paragraph may be used for program 
     operations: Provided further, That, for fiscal years 2006, 
     2007, and 2008, no unobligated funds for EDI grants may be 
     used for any purpose except acquisition, planning, design, 
     purchase of equipment, revitalization, redevelopment or 
     construction.
       Of the amount made available under this heading, 
     $40,000,000 shall be available for neighborhood initiatives 
     that are utilized to improve the conditions of distressed and 
     blighted areas and neighborhoods, to stimulate investment, 
     economic diversification, and community revitalization in 
     areas with population outmigration or a stagnating or 
     declining economic base, or to determine whether housing 
     benefits can be integrated more effectively with welfare 
     reform initiatives.


         Community Development Loan Guarantees Program Account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, $6,000,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009, as authorized by section 
     108 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as 
     amended: Provided, That such costs, including the cost of 
     modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of 
     the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended: Provided 
     further, That these funds are available to subsidize total 
     loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed, not to 
     exceed $275,000,000, notwithstanding any aggregate limitation 
     on outstanding obligations guaranteed in section 108(k) of 
     the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as 
     amended.


                       Brownfields Redevelopment

       For competitive economic development grants, as authorized 
     by section 108(q) of the Housing and Community Development 
     Act of 1974, as amended, for Brownfields redevelopment 
     projects, $10,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2009.


                  HOME Investment Partnerships Program

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the HOME investment partnerships program, as authorized 
     under title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
     Housing Act, as amended, $1,970,000,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2010, of which not to exceed $3,465,000 
     may be transferred to the Working Capital Fund: Provided, 
     That up to $15,000,000 shall be available for technical 
     assistance: Provided further, That of the total amount 
     provided in this paragraph, up to $150,000,000 shall be 
     available for housing counseling under section 106 of the 
     Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968: Provided further, 
     That, from amounts appropriated or otherwise made available 
     under this heading, $25,000,000 may be made available to 
     promote broader participation in homeownership through the 
     American Dream Downpayment Initiative, as such initiative is 
     set forth under section 271 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 
     Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12821).
       Of the overall funds made available for this account, up to 
     $100,000,000 may be made available for mortgage foreclosure 
     mitigation activities, under the following terms and 
     conditions:
       (1) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     (``Secretary, ``the Department'') is authorized to provide, 
     or contract with public, private or nonprofit entities 
     (including the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and 
     Housing Finance Agencies) to make awards (with up to a 25 
     percent match by an entity of the amount made available to 
     such entity) (except for the match, some or all of the award 
     may be repayable by the contractor to the Secretary, upon 
     terms determined by the Secretary) to provide mitigation 
     assistance to eliminate the default and foreclosure of 
     mortgages of owner-occupied single-family homes that are at 
     risk of such foreclosure, including mortgages known as 
     subprime mortgages;
       (2) These loss mitigation activities shall only be made 
     available to homebuyers with mortgages in default or in 
     danger of default where such activities are likely to ensure 
     the long-term affordability of any mortgage retained pursuant 
     to such activity; No Federal funds made available under this 
     paragraph may be provided directly to lenders or homeowners 
     for foreclosure mitigation assistance. An entity may use its 
     own funds (including its match contribution) for foreclosure 
     mitigation assistance subject to repayment requirements and 
     the regulations issued by the Secretary;
       (3) Loss mitigation activities shall involve a reasonable 
     analysis of the borrower's financial situation, an evaluation 
     of the current value of the property that is subject to the 
     mortgage, the possible purchase of the mortgage, refinancing 
     opportunities or the approval of a work-out strategy by all 
     interested parties, and an assessment of the feasibility of 
     the following measures, including:
       (I) waiver of any late payment change or, as applicable, 
     penalty interest;
       (II) forbearance pursuant to the written agreement between 
     the borrower and servicer providing for a temporary reduction 
     in monthly payments followed by a reamortization and new 
     payment schedule that includes any arrearage;
       (III) waiver, modification, or variation of any term of a 
     mortgage, including modifications that changes the mortgage 
     rate, including the possible elimination of the adjustable 
     rate mortgage requirements, forgiving the payment of 
     principal and interest, extending the final maturity rate of 
     such mortgage, or beginning to include an escrow for taxes 
     and insurance;
       (IV) acceptance of payment from the homebuyer of an amount 
     less than the stated principal balance in financial 
     satisfaction of such mortgage;
       (V) assumption;
       (VI) pre-foreclosure sale;
       (VII) deed in lieu of foreclosure; and
       (VIII) such other measures, or combination of measures, to 
     make the mortgage both feasible and reasonable to ensure the 
     long-term affordability of any mortgage retained pursuant to 
     such activity.
       (4) Activities described in subclasses (V)(VI)(VII) shall 
     be only pursued after a reasonable evaluation of the 
     feasibility of the activities described in subclasses (I), 
     (II), (III), (IV) and (VIII), based on the homeowner's 
     circumstances.
       (5) The Secretary shall develop a listing of mortgage 
     foreclosure mitigation entities with which it has agreements 
     as well as a listing of counseling centers approved by the 
     Secretary, with the understanding that an eligible mortgage 
     foreclosure mitigation entity may also operate as a 
     counseling center.
       (6) Any mitigation funds recovered by the Department of 
     Housing and Urban Development shall be revolved back into the 
     overall mitigation fund or for other counseling activities, 
     maintained by the Department and revolved back into 
     mitigation and counseling activities.
       (7) The Department shall report annually to the Congress on 
     its efforts to mitigate mortgage default. Such report shall 
     identify all methods of success and housing preserved and 
     shall include all recommended efforts that will or likely can 
     assist in the success of this program.


        self-help and assisted homeownership opportunity program

       For the Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Opportunity 
     Program, as authorized under section 11 of the Housing 
     Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996, as amended, 
     $70,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2010: 
     Provided, That of the total amount provided under this 
     heading, $26,500,000 shall be made available to the Self-Help 
     and Assisted Homeownership Opportunity Program as authorized 
     under section 11 of the Housing Opportunity Program Extension 
     Act of 1996, as amended: Provided further, That $33,500,000 
     shall be made available for the first four capacity building 
     activities authorized under section 4(b)(3) of the HUD 
     Demonstration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 9816 note), as in effect 
     immediately before June 12, 1997 and of which up to 
     $5,000,000 may be made available for rural capacity building 
     activities: Provided further, That of the total amount made 
     available under this heading; $3,000,000 shall be made 
     available to the Housing Assistance Council; $2,000,000 shall 
     be made available to the National American Indian Housing 
     Council; $3,000,000 shall be made available as a grant to the 
     Raza Development Fund of La Raza for the HOPE Fund, of which 
     $500,000 is for technical assistance and fund management, and 
     $2,500,000 is for investments in the HOPE Fund and financing 
     to affiliated organizations; and $2,000,000 shall be made 
     available as a grant to the Housing Partnership Network for 
     operating expenses and a program of affordable housing 
     acquisition and rehabilitation.


                       Homeless Assistance Grants

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the emergency shelter grants program as authorized 
     under subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
     Assistance Act, as amended; the supportive housing program as 
     authorized under subtitle C of title IV of such Act; the 
     section 8 moderate rehabilitation single room occupancy 
     program as authorized under the United States Housing Act of 
     1937, as amended, to assist homeless individuals pursuant to 
     section 441 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; 
     and the shelter plus care program as authorized under 
     subtitle F of title IV of such Act, $1,585,990,000, of which 
     $1,580,990,000 shall remain available until September 30, 
     2010, and of which $5,000,000 shall remain available until 
     expended for rehabilitation

[[Page 24272]]

     projects with ten-year grant terms: Provided, That of the 
     amounts provided, $25,000,000 shall be set aside to conduct a 
     demonstration program for the rapid re-housing of homeless 
     families: Provided further, That of amounts made available in 
     the preceding proviso, not to exceed $3,000,000 may be used 
     to conduct an evaluation of this demonstration program: 
     Provided further, That funding made available for this 
     demonstration program shall be used by the Secretary, 
     expressly for the purposes of providing housing and services 
     to homeless families in order to evaluate the effectiveness 
     of the rapid re-housing approach in addressing the needs of 
     homeless families: Provided further, That not less than 30 
     percent of funds made available, excluding amounts provided 
     for renewals under the shelter plus care program, shall be 
     used for permanent housing for individuals and families: 
     Provided further, That all funds awarded for services shall 
     be matched by 25 percent in funding by each grantee: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary shall renew on an annual basis 
     expiring contracts or amendments to contracts funded under 
     the shelter plus care program if the program is determined to 
     be needed under the applicable continuum of care and meets 
     appropriate program requirements and financial standards, as 
     determined by the Secretary: Provided further, That all 
     awards of assistance under this heading shall be required to 
     coordinate and integrate homeless programs with other 
     mainstream health, social services, and employment programs 
     for which homeless populations may be eligible, including 
     Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Program, 
     Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Food Stamps, and 
     services funding through the Mental Health and Substance 
     Abuse Block Grant, Workforce Investment Act, and the Welfare-
     to-Work grant program: Provided further, That up to 
     $8,000,000 of the funds appropriated under this heading shall 
     be available for the national homeless data analysis project 
     and technical assistance: Provided further, That not to 
     exceed $2,475,000 of the funds appropriated under this 
     heading may be transferred to the Working Capital Fund: 
     Provided further, That all balances for Shelter Plus Care 
     renewals previously funded from the Shelter Plus Care Renewal 
     account and transferred to this account shall be available, 
     if recaptured, for Shelter Plus Care renewals in fiscal year 
     2008.

                            Housing Programs


    OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HOUSING, FEDERAL HOUSING 
                              COMMISSIONER

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Housing, Federal Housing 
     Commissioner, $3,420,000.


                     HOUSING SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Housing, $351,560,000: Provided, That notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, funds appropriated under this heading 
     may be used for advertising and promotional activities that 
     support the housing mission area.


                        Housing for the Elderly

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For capital advances, including amendments to capital 
     advance contracts, for housing for the elderly, as authorized 
     by section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959, as amended, and 
     for project rental assistance for the elderly under section 
     202(c)(2) of such Act, including amendments to contracts for 
     such assistance and renewal of expiring contracts for such 
     assistance for up to a 1-year term, and for supportive 
     services associated with the housing, $735,000,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2011, of which up to 
     $603,900,000 shall be for capital advance and project-based 
     rental assistance awards: Provided, That, of the amount 
     provided under this heading, up to $60,000,000 shall be for 
     service coordinators and the continuation of existing 
     congregate service grants for residents of assisted housing 
     projects, and of which up to $24,750,000 shall be for grants 
     under section 202b of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 
     1701q-2) for conversion of eligible projects under such 
     section to assisted living or related use and for emergency 
     capital repairs as determined by the Secretary: Provided 
     further, That of the amount made available under this 
     heading, $20,000,000 shall be available to the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development only for making competitive 
     grants to private nonprofit organizations and consumer 
     cooperatives for covering costs of architectural and 
     engineering work, site control, and other planning relating 
     to the development of supportive housing for the elderly that 
     is eligible for assistance under section 202 of the Housing 
     Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q): Provided further, That amounts 
     under this heading shall be available for Real Estate 
     Assessment Center inspections and inspection-related 
     activities associated with section 202 capital advance 
     projects: Provided further, That not to exceed $1,400,000 of 
     the total amount made available under this heading may be 
     transferred to the Working Capital Fund: Provided further, 
     That the Secretary may waive the provisions of section 202 
     governing the terms and conditions of project rental 
     assistance, except that the initial contract term for such 
     assistance shall not exceed 5 years in duration.


                 Housing for Persons With Disabilities

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For capital advance contracts, including amendments to 
     capital advance contracts, for supportive housing for persons 
     with disabilities, as authorized by section 811 of the 
     Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
     8013), for project rental assistance for supportive housing 
     for persons with disabilities under section 811(d)(2) of such 
     Act, including amendments to contracts for such assistance 
     and renewal of expiring contracts for such assistance for up 
     to a 1-year term, and for supportive services associated with 
     the housing for persons with disabilities as authorized by 
     section 811(b)(1) of such Act, and for tenant-based rental 
     assistance contracts entered into pursuant to section 811 of 
     such Act, $237,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2011: Provided, That not to exceed $600,000 may be 
     transferred to the Working Capital Fund: Provided further, 
     That, of the amount provided under this heading $74,745,000 
     shall be for amendments or renewal of tenant-based assistance 
     contracts entered into prior to fiscal year 2005 (only one 
     amendment authorized for any such contract): Provided 
     further, That all tenant-based assistance made available 
     under this heading shall continue to remain available only to 
     persons with disabilities: Provided further, That the 
     Secretary may waive the provisions of section 811 governing 
     the terms and conditions of project rental assistance and 
     tenant-based assistance, except that the initial contract 
     term for such assistance shall not exceed 5 years in 
     duration: Provided further, That amounts made available under 
     this heading shall be available for Real Estate Assessment 
     Center Inspections and inspection-related activities 
     associated with section 811 Capital Advance Projects.


                    other assisted housing programs

                       rental housing assistance

       For amendments to contracts under section 101 of the 
     Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s) 
     and section 236(f)(2) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 
     1715z-1) in State-aided, non-insured rental housing projects, 
     $27,600,000, to remain available until expended.


                              (rescission)

       Of the amounts made available under the heading ``Rent 
     Supplement'' in Public Law 98-63 for amendments to contracts 
     under section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 
     1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s) and section 236(f)(2) of the National 
     Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1) in State-aided, non-insured 
     rental housing projects, $27,600,000 are rescinded.


                         Flexible Subsidy Fund

                          (transfer of funds)

       From the Rental Housing Assistance Fund, all uncommitted 
     balances of excess rental charges as of September 30, 2007, 
     and any collections made during fiscal year 2008 and all 
     subsequent fiscal years, shall be transferred to the Flexible 
     Subsidy Fund, as authorized by section 236(g) of the National 
     Housing Act, as amended.


                  Manufactured Housing Fees Trust Fund

       For necessary expenses as authorized by the National 
     Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 
     1974, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.), up to $16,000,000, 
     to remain available until expended, to be derived from the 
     Manufactured Housing Fees Trust Fund: Provided, That not to 
     exceed the total amount appropriated under this heading shall 
     be available from the general fund of the Treasury to the 
     extent necessary to incur obligations and make expenditures 
     pending the receipt of collections to the Fund pursuant to 
     section 620 of such Act: Provided further, That the amount 
     made available under this heading from the general fund shall 
     be reduced as such collections are received during fiscal 
     year 2008 so as to result in a final fiscal year 2008 
     appropriation from the general fund estimated at not more 
     than $0 and fees pursuant to such section 620 shall be 
     modified as necessary to ensure such a final fiscal year 2008 
     appropriation: Provided further, That for the dispute 
     resolution and installation programs, the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development may assess and collect fees 
     from any program participant: Provided further, That such 
     collections shall be deposited into the Fund, and the 
     Secretary, as provided herein, may use such collections, as 
     well as fees collected under section 620, for necessary 
     expenses of such Act: Provided further, That notwithstanding 
     the requirements of section 620 of such Act, the Secretary 
     may carry out responsibilities of the Secretary under such 
     Act through the use of approved service providers that are 
     paid directly by the recipients of their services.

                     Federal Housing Administration


               mutual mortgage insurance program account

                     (including transfers of funds)

       During fiscal year 2008, commitments to guarantee loans to 
     carry out the purposes of section 203(b) of the National 
     Housing Act, as amended, shall not exceed a loan principal of 
     $185,000,000,000.
       During fiscal year 2008, obligations to make direct loans 
     to carry out the purposes of section 204(g) of the National 
     Housing Act, as amended, shall not exceed $50,000,000: 
     Provided, That the foregoing amount shall be for loans to 
     nonprofit and governmental entities in connection with sales 
     of single family real properties owned by the Secretary and 
     formerly insured under the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.
       For administrative contract expenses, $77,400,000, of which 
     not to exceed $25,550,000 may be transferred to the Working 
     Capital Fund, and of which up to $5,000,000 shall be for 
     education and outreach of FHA single family loan products: 
     Provided, That to the extent guaranteed loan commitments 
     exceed $65,500,000,000 on or before April 1, 2008, an 
     additional $1,400 for administrative contract expenses shall 
     be available for each $1,000,000 in

[[Page 24273]]

     additional guaranteed loan commitments (including a pro rata 
     amount for any amount below $1,000,000), but in no case shall 
     funds made available by this proviso exceed $30,000,000.


                General and Special Risk Program Account

                     (including transfers of funds)

       For the cost of guaranteed loans, as authorized by sections 
     238 and 519 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-3 
     and 1735c), including the cost of loan guarantee 
     modifications, as that term is defined in section 502 of the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, $8,600,000, to 
     remain available until expended: Provided, That commitments 
     to guarantee loans shall not exceed $45,000,000,000 in total 
     loan principal, any part of which is to be guaranteed.
       Gross obligations for the principal amount of direct loans, 
     as authorized by sections 204(g), 207(l), 238, and 519(a) of 
     the National Housing Act, shall not exceed $50,000,000, of 
     which not to exceed $30,000,000 shall be for bridge financing 
     in connection with the sale of multifamily real properties 
     owned by the Secretary and formerly insured under such Act; 
     and of which not to exceed $20,000,000 shall be for loans to 
     nonprofit and governmental entities in connection with the 
     sale of single-family real properties owned by the Secretary 
     and formerly insured under such Act.
       For administrative contract expenses necessary to carry out 
     the guaranteed and direct loan programs, $78,111,000, of 
     which not to exceed $15,692,000 may be transferred to the 
     Working Capital Fund: Provided, That to the extent guaranteed 
     loan commitments exceed $8,426,000,000 on or before April 1, 
     2008, an additional $1,980 for administrative contract 
     expenses shall be available for each $1,000,000 in additional 
     guaranteed loan commitments over $8,426,000,000 (including a 
     pro rata amount for any increment below $1,000,000), but in 
     no case shall funds made available by this proviso exceed 
     $14,400,000.
       For discount sales of multifamily real property under 
     sections 207(1) or 246 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 
     1713(l), 1715z-11), section 203 of the Housing and Community 
     Development Amendments of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 1701z-11), or 
     section 204 of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies 
     Appropriations Act, 1997 (12 U.S.C. 1715z-11a), and for 
     discount loan sales under section 207(k) of the National 
     Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1713(k)), section 203(k) of the 
     Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (12 
     U.S.C. 1701z-11(k)), or section 204(a) of the Departments of 
     Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and 
     Independent Agencies Act, 1997 (12 U.S.C. 1715z-11a(a)), 
     $5,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.

                Government National Mortgage Association


         OFFICE OF THE GOVERNMENT NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     the Government National Mortgage Association, $9,530,000.


Guarantees of Mortgage-Backed Securities Loan Guarantee Program Account

                     (including transfer of funds)

       New commitments to issue guarantees to carry out the 
     purposes of section 306 of the National Housing Act, as 
     amended (12 U.S.C. 1721(g)), shall not exceed 
     $200,000,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 
     2009.

                    Policy Development and Research


 OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, 
     $1,570,000.


         POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of Policy 
     Development and Research, $19,310,000.


                        Research and Technology

       For contracts, grants, and necessary expenses of programs 
     of research and studies relating to housing and urban 
     problems, not otherwise provided for, as authorized by title 
     V of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970, as 
     amended (12 U.S.C. 1701z-1 et seq.), including carrying out 
     the functions of the Secretary under section 1(a)(1)(i) of 
     Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1968, $61,440,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That of the 
     total amount provided under this heading, $5,000,000 shall be 
     for the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing 
     (PATH) Initiative: Provided further, That of the funds made 
     available under this heading, $20,600,000 is for grants 
     pursuant to section 107 of the Housing and Community 
     Development Act of 1974, as amended, as follows: $3,000,000 
     to support Alaska Native serving institutions and Native 
     Hawaiian serving institutions as defined under the Higher 
     Education Act, as amended; $5,000,000 for tribal colleges and 
     universities to build, expand, renovate, and equip their 
     facilities and to expand the role of the colleges into the 
     community through the provision of needed services such as 
     health programs, job training and economic development 
     activities; $9,000,000 for the Historically Black Colleges 
     and Universities program, of which up to $2,000,000 may be 
     used for technical assistance; and $6,000,000 for the 
     Hispanic Serving Institutions Program.

                   Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity


     OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FAIR HOUSING AND EQUAL 
                              OPPORTUNITY

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
     Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, 
     $1,490,000.


        FAIR HOUSING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, $69,390,000.


                        Fair Housing Activities

       For contracts, grants, and other assistance, not otherwise 
     provided for, as authorized by title VIII of the Civil Rights 
     Act of 1968, as amended by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 
     1988, and section 561 of the Housing and Community 
     Development Act of 1987, as amended, $52,380,000, to remain 
     available until September 30, 2009, of which $25,000,000 
     shall be to carry out activities pursuant to such section 
     561: Provided, That notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, the 
     Secretary may assess and collect fees to cover the costs of 
     the Fair Housing Training Academy, and may use such funds to 
     provide such training: Provided further, That no funds made 
     available under this heading shall be used to lobby the 
     executive or legislative branches of the Federal Government 
     in connection with a specific contract, grant or loan: 
     Provided further, That of the funds made available under this 
     heading, $380,000 shall be available to the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development for the creation and promotion 
     of translated materials and other programs that support the 
     assistance of persons with limited english proficiency in 
     utilizing the services provided by the Department of Housing 
     and Urban Development.

                     Office of Lead Hazard Control


            OFFICE OF HEALTHY HOMES AND LEAD HAZARD CONTROL

                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

       For the necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, $6,140,000.


                         Lead Hazard Reduction

       For the Lead Hazard Reduction Program, as authorized by 
     section 1011 of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard 
     Reduction Act of 1992, $151,000,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2009, of which $8,800,000 shall be for 
     the Healthy Homes Initiative, pursuant to sections 501 and 
     502 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 that 
     shall include research, studies, testing, and demonstration 
     efforts, including education and outreach concerning lead-
     based paint poisoning and other housing-related diseases and 
     hazards: Provided, That for purposes of environmental review, 
     pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
     U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and other provisions of law that further 
     the purposes of such Act, a grant under the Healthy Homes 
     Initiative, Operation Lead Elimination Action Plan (LEAP), or 
     the Lead Technical Studies program under this heading or 
     under prior appropriations Acts for such purposes under this 
     heading, shall be considered to be funds for a special 
     project for purposes of section 305(c) of the Multifamily 
     Housing Property Disposition Reform Act of 1994: Provided 
     further, That of the total amount made available under this 
     heading, $48,000,000 shall be made available on a competitive 
     basis for areas with the highest lead paint abatement needs: 
     Provided further, That each applicant shall submit a detailed 
     plan and strategy that demonstrates adequate capacity that is 
     acceptable to the Secretary to carry out the proposed use of 
     funds pursuant to a Notice of Funding Availability: Provided 
     further, That of the total amount made available under this 
     heading, $2,000,000 shall be available for the Big Buy 
     Program to be managed by the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead 
     Hazard Control.


                          Working Capital Fund

       For additional capital for the Working Capital Fund (42 
     U.S.C. 3535) for the development of, modifications to, and 
     infrastructure for Department-wide information technology 
     systems, for the continuing operation and maintenance of both 
     Department-wide and program-specific information systems, and 
     for program-related development activities, $172,600,000, to 
     remain available until September 30, 2009: Provided, That any 
     amounts transferred to this Fund under this Act shall remain 
     available until expended: Provided further, That any amounts 
     transferred to this Fund from amounts appropriated by 
     previously enacted appropriations Acts or from within this 
     Act may be used only for the purposes specified under this 
     Fund, in addition to the purposes for which such amounts were 
     appropriated.


                      Office of Inspector General

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary salaries and expenses of the Office of 
     Inspector General in carrying out the Inspector General Act 
     of 1978, as amended, $112,000,000: Provided, That the 
     Inspector General shall have independent authority over all 
     personnel issues within this office.

             Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight


                         Salaries and Expenses

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For carrying out the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial 
     Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, including not to exceed 
     $500 for official reception and representation expenses, 
     $66,000,000,

[[Page 24274]]

     to remain available until expended, to be derived from the 
     Federal Housing Enterprises Oversight Fund: Provided, That 
     the Director shall submit a spending plan for the amounts 
     provided under this heading no later than January 15, 2008: 
     Provided further, That not less than 80 percent of the total 
     amount made available under this heading shall be used only 
     for examination, supervision, and capital oversight of the 
     enterprises (as such term is defined in section 1303 of the 
     Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness 
     Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4502)) to ensure that the enterprises 
     are operating in a financially safe and sound manner and 
     complying with the capital requirements under Subtitle B of 
     such Act: Provided further, That not to exceed the amount 
     provided herein shall be available from the general fund of 
     the Treasury to the extent necessary to incur obligations and 
     make expenditures pending the receipt of collections to the 
     Fund: Provided further, That the general fund amount shall be 
     reduced as collections are received during the fiscal year so 
     as to result in a final appropriation from the general fund 
     estimated at not more than $0.

    General Provisions--Department of Housing and Urban Development

       Sec. 201. Fifty percent of the amounts of budget authority, 
     or in lieu thereof 50 percent of the cash amounts associated 
     with such budget authority, that are recaptured from projects 
     described in section 1012(a) of the Stewart B. McKinney 
     Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 1437 
     note) shall be rescinded or in the case of cash, shall be 
     remitted to the Treasury, and such amounts of budget 
     authority or cash recaptured and not rescinded or remitted to 
     the Treasury shall be used by State housing finance agencies 
     or local governments or local housing agencies with projects 
     approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     for which settlement occurred after January 1, 1992, in 
     accordance with such section. Notwithstanding the previous 
     sentence, the Secretary may award up to 15 percent of the 
     budget authority or cash recaptured and not rescinded or 
     remitted to the Treasury to provide project owners with 
     incentives to refinance their project at a lower interest 
     rate.
       Sec. 202. None of the amounts made available under this Act 
     may be used during fiscal year 2008 to investigate or 
     prosecute under the Fair Housing Act any otherwise lawful 
     activity engaged in by one or more persons, including the 
     filing or maintaining of a non-frivolous legal action, that 
     is engaged in solely for the purpose of achieving or 
     preventing action by a Government official or entity, or a 
     court of competent jurisdiction.
       Sec. 203. (a) Notwithstanding section 854(c)(1)(A) of the 
     AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12903(c)(1)(A)), from 
     any amounts made available under this title for fiscal year 
     2008 that are allocated under such section, the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development shall allocate and make a 
     grant, in the amount determined under subsection (b), for any 
     State that--
       (1) received an allocation in a prior fiscal year under 
     clause (ii) of such section; and
       (2) is not otherwise eligible for an allocation for fiscal 
     year 2008 under such clause (ii) because the areas in the 
     State outside of the metropolitan statistical areas that 
     qualify under clause (i) in fiscal year 2008 do not have the 
     number of cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) 
     required under such clause.
       (b) The amount of the allocation and grant for any State 
     described in subsection (a) shall be an amount based on the 
     cumulative number of AIDS cases in the areas of that State 
     that are outside of metropolitan statistical areas that 
     qualify under clause (i) of such section 854(c)(1)(A) in 
     fiscal year 2008, in proportion to AIDS cases among cities 
     and States that qualify under clauses (i) and (ii) of such 
     section and States deemed eligible under subsection (a).
       (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amount 
     allocated for fiscal year 2008 under section 854(c) of the 
     AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12903(c)), to the 
     City of New York, New York, on behalf of the New York-Wayne-
     White Plains, New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Division 
     (hereafter ``metropolitan division'') of the New York-Newark-
     Edison, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, shall be 
     adjusted by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     by: (1) allocating to the City of Jersey City, New Jersey, 
     the proportion of the metropolitan area's or division's 
     amount that is based on the number of cases of AIDS reported 
     in the portion of the metropolitan area or division that is 
     located in Hudson County, New Jersey, and adjusting for the 
     proportion of the metropolitan division's high incidence 
     bonus if this area in New Jersey also has a higher than 
     average per capita incidence of AIDS; and (2) allocating to 
     the City of Paterson, New Jersey, the proportion of the 
     metropolitan area's or division's amount that is based on the 
     number of cases of AIDS reported in the portion of the 
     metropolitan area or division that is located in Bergen 
     County and Passaic County, New Jersey, and adjusting for the 
     proportion of the metropolitan division's high incidence 
     bonus if this area in New Jersey also has a higher than 
     average per capita incidence of AIDS. The recipient cities 
     shall use amounts allocated under this subsection to carry 
     out eligible activities under section 855 of the AIDS Housing 
     Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12904) in their respective 
     portions of the metropolitan division that is located in New 
     Jersey.
       (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amount 
     allocated for fiscal year 2008 under section 854(c) of the 
     AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12903(c)) to areas 
     with a higher than average per capita incidence of AIDS, 
     shall be adjusted by the Secretary on the basis of area 
     incidence reported over a three year period.
       Sec. 204. Except as explicitly provided in law, any grant, 
     cooperative agreement or other assistance made pursuant to 
     title II of this Act shall be made on a competitive basis and 
     in accordance with section 102 of the Department of Housing 
     and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989.
       Sec. 205. Funds of the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development subject to the Government Corporation Control Act 
     or section 402 of the Housing Act of 1950 shall be available, 
     without regard to the limitations on administrative expenses, 
     for legal services on a contract or fee basis, and for 
     utilizing and making payment for services and facilities of 
     the Federal National Mortgage Association, Government 
     National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Mortgage 
     Corporation, Federal Financing Bank, Federal Reserve banks or 
     any member thereof, Federal Home Loan banks, and any insured 
     bank within the meaning of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
     Corporation Act, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1811-1831).
       Sec. 206. Unless otherwise provided for in this Act or 
     through a reprogramming of funds, no part of any 
     appropriation for the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development shall be available for any program, project or 
     activity in excess of amounts set forth in the budget 
     estimates submitted to Congress.
       Sec. 207. Corporations and agencies of the Department of 
     Housing and Urban Development which are subject to the 
     Government Corporation Control Act, as amended, are hereby 
     authorized to make such expenditures, within the limits of 
     funds and borrowing authority available to each such 
     corporation or agency and in accordance with law, and to make 
     such contracts and commitments without regard to fiscal year 
     limitations as provided by section 104 of such Act as may be 
     necessary in carrying out the programs set forth in the 
     budget for 2008 for such corporation or agency except as 
     hereinafter provided: Provided, That collections of these 
     corporations and agencies may be used for new loan or 
     mortgage purchase commitments only to the extent expressly 
     provided for in this Act (unless such loans are in support of 
     other forms of assistance provided for in this or prior 
     appropriations Acts), except that this proviso shall not 
     apply to the mortgage insurance or guaranty operations of 
     these corporations, or where loans or mortgage purchases are 
     necessary to protect the financial interest of the United 
     States Government.
       Sec. 208. None of the funds provided in this title for 
     technical assistance, training, or management improvements 
     may be obligated or expended unless HUD provides to the 
     Committees on Appropriations a description of each proposed 
     activity and a detailed budget estimate of the costs 
     associated with each program, project or activity as part of 
     the Budget Justifications. For fiscal year 2008, HUD shall 
     transmit this information to the Committees by March 15, 2008 
     for 30 days of review.
       Sec. 209. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall provide quarterly reports to the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations regarding all uncommitted, 
     unobligated, recaptured and excess funds in each program and 
     activity within the jurisdiction of the Department and shall 
     submit additional, updated budget information to these 
     Committees upon request.
       Sec. 210. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     the amount allocated for fiscal year 2008 under section 
     854(c) of the AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 
     12903(c)), to the City of Wilmington, Delaware, on behalf of 
     the Wilmington, Delaware-Maryland-New Jersey Metropolitan 
     Division (hereafter ``metropolitan division''), shall be 
     adjusted by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by 
     allocating to the State of New Jersey the proportion of the 
     metropolitan division's amount that is based on the number of 
     cases of AIDS reported in the portion of the metropolitan 
     division that is located in New Jersey, and adjusting for the 
     proportion of the metropolitan division's high incidence 
     bonus if this area in New Jersey also has a higher than 
     average per capita incidence of AIDS. The State of New Jersey 
     shall use amounts allocated to the State under this 
     subsection to carry out eligible activities under section 855 
     of the AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12904) in the 
     portion of the metropolitan division that is located in New 
     Jersey.
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall allocate to 
     Wake County, North Carolina, the amounts that otherwise would 
     be allocated for fiscal year 2008 under section 854(c) of the 
     AIDS Housing Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12903(c)) to the City 
     of Raleigh, North Carolina, on behalf of the Raleigh-Cary, 
     North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. Any amounts 
     allocated to Wake County shall be used to carry out eligible 
     activities under section 855 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12904) 
     within such metropolitan statistical area.
       (c) Notwithstanding section 854(c) of the AIDS Housing 
     Opportunity Act (42 U.S.C. 12903(c)), the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development may adjust the allocation of 
     the amounts that otherwise would be allocated for fiscal year 
     2008 under section 854(c) of such Act, upon the written 
     request of an applicant, in conjunction with the State(s), 
     for a formula allocation on behalf of a metropolitan 
     statistical area, to designate the State or States in which 
     the metropolitan statistical area is located as the eligible

[[Page 24275]]

     grantee(s) of the allocation. In the case that a metropolitan 
     statistical area involves more than one State, such amounts 
     allocated to each State shall be in proportion to the number 
     of cases of AIDS reported in the portion of the metropolitan 
     statistical area located in that State. Any amounts allocated 
     to a State under this section shall be used to carry out 
     eligible activities within the portion of the metropolitan 
     statistical area located in that State.
       Sec. 211. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall submit an annual report no later than August 30, 2008 
     and annually thereafter to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations regarding the number of Federally assisted 
     units under lease and the per unit cost of these units to the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development.
       Sec. 212. The Department of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall submit the Department's fiscal year 2009 congressional 
     budget justifications to the Committees on Appropriations of 
     the House of Representatives and the Senate using the 
     identical structure provided under this Act and only in 
     accordance with the direction specified in the report 
     accompanying this Act.
       Sec. 213. Incremental vouchers previously made available 
     under the heading ``Housing Certificate Fund'' or renewed 
     under the heading, ``Tenant-Based Rental Assistance,'' for 
     non-elderly disabled families shall, to the extent 
     practicable, continue to be provided to non-elderly disabled 
     families upon turnover.
       Sec. 214. A public housing agency or such other entity that 
     administers Federal housing assistance for the Housing 
     Authority of the county of Los Angeles, California, the 
     States of Alaska, Iowa, and Mississippi shall not be required 
     to include a resident of public housing or a recipient of 
     assistance provided under section 8 of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937 on the board of directors or a similar 
     governing board of such agency or entity as required under 
     section (2)(b) of such Act. Each public housing agency or 
     other entity that administers Federal housing assistance 
     under section 8 for the Housing Authority of the county of 
     Los Angeles, California and the States of Alaska, Iowa and 
     Mississippi shall establish an advisory board of not less 
     than 6 residents of public housing or recipients of section 8 
     assistance to provide advice and comment to the public 
     housing agency or other administering entity on issues 
     related to public housing and section 8. Such advisory board 
     shall meet not less than quarterly.
       Sec. 215. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     subject to the conditions listed in subsection (b), for 
     fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the Secretary may authorize the 
     transfer of some or all project-based assistance, debt and 
     statutorily required low-income and very low-income use 
     restrictions, associated with one or more multifamily housing 
     project to another multifamily housing project or projects.
       (b) The transfer authorized in subsection (a) is subject to 
     the following conditions:
       (1) the number of low-income and very low-income units and 
     the net dollar amount of Federal assistance provided by the 
     transferring project shall remain the same in the receiving 
     project or projects;
       (2) the transferring project shall, as determined by the 
     Secretary, be either physically obsolete or economically non-
     viable;
       (3) the receiving project or projects shall meet or exceed 
     applicable physical standards established by the Secretary;
       (4) the owner or mortgagor of the transferring project 
     shall notify and consult with the tenants residing in the 
     transferring project and provide a certification of approval 
     by all appropriate local governmental officials;
       (5) the tenants of the transferring project who remain 
     eligible for assistance to be provided by the receiving 
     project or projects shall not be required to vacate their 
     units in the transferring project or projects until new units 
     in the receiving project are available for occupancy;
       (6) the Secretary determines that this transfer is in the 
     best interest of the tenants;
       (7) if either the transferring project or the receiving 
     project or projects meets the condition specified in 
     subsection (c)(2)(A), any lien on the receiving project 
     resulting from additional financing obtained by the owner 
     shall be subordinate to any FHA-insured mortgage lien 
     transferred to, or placed on, such project by the Secretary;
       (8) if the transferring project meets the requirements of 
     subsection (c)(2)(E), the owner or mortgagor of the receiving 
     project or projects shall execute and record either a 
     continuation of the existing use agreement or a new use 
     agreement for the project where, in either case, any use 
     restrictions in such agreement are of no lesser duration than 
     the existing use restrictions;
       (9) any financial risk to the FHA General and Special Risk 
     Insurance Fund, as determined by the Secretary, would be 
     reduced as a result of a transfer completed under this 
     section; and
       (10) the Secretary determines that Federal liability with 
     regard to this project will not be increased.
       (c) For purposes of this section--
       (1) the terms ``low-income'' and ``very low-income'' shall 
     have the meanings provided by the statute and/or regulations 
     governing the program under which the project is insured or 
     assisted;
       (2) the term ``multifamily housing project'' means housing 
     that meets one of the following conditions--
       (A) housing that is subject to a mortgage insured under the 
     National Housing Act;
       (B) housing that has project-based assistance attached to 
     the structure including projects undergoing mark to market 
     debt restructuring under the Multifamily Assisted Housing 
     Reform and Affordability Housing Act;
       (C) housing that is assisted under section 202 of the 
     Housing Act of 1959 as amended by section 801 of the 
     Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act;
       (D) housing that is assisted under section 202 of the 
     Housing Act of 1959, as such section existed before the 
     enactment of the Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable 
     Housing Act; or
       (E) housing or vacant land that is subject to a use 
     agreement;
       (3) the term ``project-based assistance'' means--
       (A) assistance provided under section 8(b) of the United 
     States Housing Act of 1937;
       (B) assistance for housing constructed or substantially 
     rehabilitated pursuant to assistance provided under section 
     8(b)(2) of such Act (as such section existed immediately 
     before October 1, 1983);
       (C) rent supplement payments under section 101 of the 
     Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965;
       (D) interest reduction payments under section 236 and/or 
     additional assistance payments under section 236(f)(2) of the 
     National Housing Act; and,
       (E) assistance payments made under section 202(c)(2) of the 
     Housing Act of 1959;
       (4) the term ``receiving project or projects'' means the 
     multifamily housing project or projects to which the project-
     based assistance, debt, and statutorily required use low-
     income and very low-income restrictions are to be 
     transferred;
       (5) the term ``transferring project'' means the multifamily 
     housing project which is transferring the project-based 
     assistance, debt and the statutorily required low-income and 
     very low-income use restrictions to the receiving project; 
     and,
       (6) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Housing 
     and Urban Development.
       Sec. 216. The funds made available for Native Alaskans 
     under the heading ``Native American Housing Block Grants'' in 
     title III of this Act shall be allocated to the same Native 
     Alaskan housing block grant recipients that received funds in 
     fiscal year 2005.
       Sec. 217. Incremental vouchers made available under this 
     Act and previously made available under the heading, 
     ``Housing Certificate Fund'' or renewed under the heading, 
     ``Tenant-Based Rental Assistance'', for family unification 
     shall, to the extent practicable, continue to be provided for 
     family unification.
       Sec. 218. The Secretary of Transportation may receive and 
     expend cash, or receive and utilize spare parts and similar 
     items, from non-United States Government sources to repair 
     damages to or replace United States Government owned 
     automated track inspection cars and equipment as a result of 
     third party liability for such damages, and any amounts 
     collected under this subsection shall be credited directly to 
     the Safety and Operations account of the Federal Railroad 
     Administration, and shall remain available until expended for 
     the repair, operation and maintenance of automated track 
     inspection cars and equipment in connection with the 
     automated track inspection program.


                   (Additional Obligation Limitation)

                          (Highway Trust Fund)

       For an additional amount of obligation limitation to be 
     distributed for the purpose of section 144(e) of title 23, 
     United States Code, $1,000,000,000: Provided, That such 
     obligation limitation shall be used only for a purpose 
     eligible for obligation with funds apportioned under such 
     section and shall be distributed in accordance with the 
     formula in such section: Provided further, That in 
     distributing obligation authority under this paragraph, the 
     Secretary shall ensure that such obligation limitation shall 
     supplement and not supplant each State's planned obligations 
     for such purposes.
       Sec. 219. (a) No assistance shall be provided under section 
     8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) 
     to any individual who--
       (1) is enrolled as a student at an institution of higher 
     education (as defined under section 102 of the Higher 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002));
       (2) is under 24 years of age;
       (3) is not a veteran;
       (4) is unmarried;
       (5) does not have a dependent child;
       (6) is not a person with disabilities, as such term is 
     defined in section 3(b)(3)(E) of the United States Housing 
     Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(3)(E)) and was not receiving 
     assistance under such section 8 as of November 30, 2005; and
       (7) is not otherwise individually eligible, or has parents 
     who, individually or jointly, are not eligible, to receive 
     assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act 
     of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f).
       (b) For purposes of determining the eligibility of a person 
     to receive assistance under section 8 of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), any financial 
     assistance (in excess of amounts received for tuition) that 
     an individual receives under the Higher Education Act of 1965 
     (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), from private sources, or an 
     institution of higher education (as defined under the Higher 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)), shall be considered 
     income to that individual, except for a person over the age 
     of 23 with dependent children.
       (c) Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, the Secretary of Housing

[[Page 24276]]

     and Urban Development shall issue final regulations to carry 
     out the provisions of this section.
       Sec. 220. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in 
     fiscal year 2008, in managing and disposing of any 
     multifamily property that is owned or has a mortgage held by 
     the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary 
     shall maintain any rental assistance payments under section 8 
     of the United States Housing Act of 1937 and other programs 
     that are attached to any dwelling units in the property. To 
     the extent the Secretary determines, in consultation with the 
     tenants and the local government, that such a multifamily 
     property owned or held by the Secretary is not feasible for 
     continued rental assistance payments under such section 8 or 
     other programs, based on consideration of (1) the costs of 
     rehabilitating and operating the property and all available 
     Federal, State, and local resources, including rent 
     adjustments under section 524 of the Multifamily Assisted 
     Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (``MAHRAA'') and 
     (2) environmental conditions that cannot be remedied in a 
     cost-effective fashion, the Secretary may, in consultation 
     with the tenants of that property, contract for project-based 
     rental assistance payments with an owner or owners of other 
     existing housing properties, or provide other rental 
     assistance. The Secretary shall also take appropriate steps 
     to ensure that project-based contracts remain in effect prior 
     to foreclosure, subject to the exercise of contractual 
     abatement remedies to assist relocation of tenants for 
     imminent major threats to health and safety. After 
     disposition of any multifamily property described under this 
     section, the contract and allowable rent levels on such 
     properties shall be subject to the requirements under section 
     524 of MAHRAA.
       Sec. 221. The National Housing Act is amended--
       (1) in sections 207(c)(3), 213(b)(2)(B)(i), 
     221(d)(3)(ii)(II), 221(d)(4)(ii)(II), 231(c)(2)(B), and 
     234(e)(3)(B) (12 U.S.C. 1713(c)(3), 1715e(b)(2)(B)(i), 
     1715l(d)(3)(ii)(II), 1715l(d)(4)(ii)(II), 1715v(c)(2)(B), and 
     1715y(e)(3)(B))--
       (A) by striking ``140 percent'' each place such term 
     appears and inserting ``170 percent''; and
       (B) by striking ``170 percent in high cost areas'' each 
     place such term appears and inserting ``215 percent in high 
     cost areas''; and
       (2) in section 220(d)(3)(B)(iii)(III) (12 U.S.C. 
     1715k(d)(3)(B)(iii)(III)) by striking ``206A'' and all that 
     follows through ``project-by-project basis'' and inserting 
     the following: ``206A of this Act) by not to exceed 170 
     percent in any geographical area where the Secretary finds 
     that cost levels so require and by not to exceed 170 percent, 
     or 215 percent in high cost areas, where the Secretary 
     determines it necessary on a project-by-project basis''.
       Sec. 222. Section 24 of the United States Housing Act of 
     1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437v) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (m)(1), by striking ``2003'' and 
     inserting ``2008''; and
       (2) in subsection (o), by striking ``September 30, 2007'' 
     and inserting ``September 30, 2008''.
       Sec. 223. Public housing agencies that own and operate 500 
     or fewer public housing units may elect to be exempt from any 
     asset management requirement imposed by the Secretary of 
     Housing and Urban Development in connection with the 
     operating fund rule: Provided, That an agency seeking a 
     discontinuance of a reduction of subsidy under the operating 
     fund formula shall not be exempt from asset management 
     requirements.
       Sec. 224. With respect to the use of amounts provided in 
     this Act and in future Acts for the operation, capital 
     improvement and management of public housing as authorized by 
     sections 9(d) and 9(e) of the United States Housing Act of 
     1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(d) and (e)), the Secretary shall not 
     impose any requirement or guideline relating to asset 
     management that restricts or limits in any way the use of 
     capital funds for central office costs pursuant to section 
     9(g)(1) or 9(g)(2) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
     (42 U.S.C. 1437g(g)(1),(2)).
       Sec. 225. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall report quarterly to the House of Representatives and 
     Senate Committees on Appropriations on the status of all 
     section 8 project-based housing, including the number of all 
     project-based units by region as well as an analysis of all 
     federally subsidized housing being refinanced under the Mark-
     to-Market program. The Secretary shall in the report identify 
     all existing units maintained by region as section 8 project-
     based units and all project-based units that have opted out 
     of section 8 or have otherwise been eliminated as section 8 
     project-based units. The Secretary shall identify in detail 
     and by project all the efforts made by the Department to 
     preserve all section 8 project-based housing units and all 
     the reasons for any units which opted out or otherwise were 
     lost as section 8 project-based units. Such analysis shall 
     include a review of the impact of the loss any subsidized 
     units in that housing marketplace, such as the impact of cost 
     and the loss of available subsidized, low-income housing in 
     areas with scare housing resources for low-income families.
       Sec. 226. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall report quarterly to the House of Representatives and 
     Senate Committees on Appropriations on HUD's use of all sole 
     source contracts, including terms of the contracts, cost and 
     a substantive rationale for using a sole source contract.
       Sec. 227. Section 9(e)(2)(C) of the United States Housing 
     Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(e)(2)(C)) is amended by adding 
     at the end of the following:
       ``(iv) Existing contracts.--The term of a contract 
     described in clause (i) that, as of the date of enactment of 
     this clause, is in repayment and has a term of not more than 
     12 years, may be extended to a term of not more than 20 years 
     to permit additional energy conservation improvements without 
     requiring the reprocurement of energy performance 
     contractors.''.
       Sec. 228. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall increase, pursuant to this section, the number of 
     Moving-to-Work agencies authorized under section 204, title 
     II, of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and 
     Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations 
     Act, 1996 (Public Law 104-134; 110 Stat. 1321-281) by making 
     the Alaska Public Housing Agency a Moving-to-Work Agency 
     under such section 204.
       Sec. 229. (a) The referenced statement of managers under 
     the heading ``Community Development Fund'' in title II of 
     Public Law 108-447 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 203 by striking ``equipment'' and inserting 
     ``renovation and construction''.
       (b) The referenced statement of managers under the heading 
     ``Community Development Fund'' in title III of division A of 
     Public Law 109-115 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 696 by striking ``a Small Business Development 
     Center'' and inserting ``for revitalization costs at the 
     College of Agriculture Biotechnology and Natural Resources''.
       (c) The referenced statement of managers under the heading 
     ``Community Development Fund'' in title III of division A of 
     Public Law 109-115 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 460 by striking ``Maine-Mawoshen One Country, Two 
     Worlds Project'' and inserting ``Sharing Maine's Maritime 
     Heritage Project--Construction and access to exhibits''.
       (d) The referenced statement of managers under the heading 
     ``Community Development Fund'' in title III of division A of 
     Public Law 109-115 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 914 by striking ``the Pastime Theatre in Bristol, 
     Rhode Island for building improvements'' and inserting ``the 
     Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in 
     Providence, Rhode Island for building renovations''.
       (e) The referenced statement of managers under the heading 
     ``Community Development Fund'' in title III of division A of 
     Public Law 109-115 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 918 by striking ``South Kingstown'' and inserting 
     ``Washington County''.
       (f) The referenced statement of managers under the heading 
     ``Community Development Fund'' in title III of division A of 
     Public Law 109-115 is deemed to be amended with respect to 
     item number 624 by striking ``for the construction of a new 
     technology building'' and inserting ``for renovations to the 
     Wheeling Community Center''.
       Sec. 230. Notwithstanding the limitation in the first 
     sentence of section 255(g) of the National Housing Act (12 
     U.S.C. 1715z-20(g)), the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development may, until September 30, 2008, insure and enter 
     into commitments to insure mortgages under section 255 of the 
     National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-20).
       Sec. 231. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may not rescind or 
     take any adverse action with respect to the Moving-to-Work 
     program designation for the Housing Authority of Baltimore 
     City based on any alleged administrative or procedural errors 
     in making such designation.
       Sec. 232. Paragraph (4) of section 102(a) of the Housing 
     and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: 
     ``Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph, with 
     respect to any fiscal year beginning after the date of the 
     enactment of this sentence, the cities of Alton and Granite 
     City, Illinois, may be considered metropolitan cities for 
     purposes of this title.''.
       Sec. 233. (a) The amounts provided under the subheading 
     ``Program Account'' under the heading ``Community Development 
     Loan Guarantees'' may be used to guarantee, or make 
     commitments to guarantee, notes or other obligations issued 
     by any State on behalf of non-entitlement communities in the 
     State in accordance with the requirements of section 108 of 
     the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974: Provided, 
     That, any State receiving such a guarantee or commitment 
     shall distribute all funds subject to such guarantee to the 
     units of general local government in non-entitlement areas 
     that received the commitment.
       (b) Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall promulgate regulations governing the administration of 
     the funds described under subsection (a).
       Sec. 234. Not later than 30 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development shall establish and maintain on the homepage of 
     the Internet website of the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development--
       (1) a direct link to the Internet website of the Office of 
     Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development; and
       (2) a mechanism by which individuals may anonymously report 
     cases of waste, fraud, or abuse with respect to the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development.
       Sec. 235. Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development may--
       (1) develop a formal, structured, and written plan that the 
     Department of Housing and

[[Page 24277]]

     Urban Development shall use when monitoring for compliance 
     with the specific relocation restrictions in--
       (A) the Community Development Block Grant entitlement 
     program; and
       (B) the Community Development Block Grant State program 
     that receives economic development funds from the Department 
     of Housing and Urban Development; and
       (2) submit such plan to the Committee on Appropriations of 
     both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
       Sec. 236. (a) Required Submissions for Fiscal Years 2007 
     and 2008.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development may submit to the relevant authorizing committees 
     and to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the 
     House of Representatives for fiscal year 2007 and 2008--
       (A) a complete and accurate accounting of the actual 
     project-based renewal costs for project-based assistance 
     under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 
     U.S.C. 1437f);
       (B) revised estimates of the funding needed to fully fund 
     all 12 months of all project-based contracts under such 
     section 8, including project-based contracts that expire in 
     fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2008; and
       (C) all sources of funding that will be used to fully fund 
     all 12 months of the project-based contracts for fiscal years 
     2007 and 2008.
       (2) Updated information.--At any time after the expiration 
     of the 60-day period described in paragraph (1), the 
     Secretary may submit corrections or updates to the 
     information required under paragraph (1), if upon completion 
     of an audit of the project-based assistance program under 
     section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
     1437f), such audit reveals additional information that may 
     provide Congress a more complete understanding of the 
     Secretary's implementation of the project-based assistance 
     program under such section 8.
       (b) Required Submissions for Fiscal Year 2009.--As part of 
     the Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget 
     request for fiscal year 2009, the Secretary of Housing and 
     Urban Development shall submit to the relevant authorizing 
     committees and to the Committees on Appropriations of the 
     Senate and the House of Representatives complete and detailed 
     information, including a project-by-project analysis, that 
     verifies that such budget request will fully fund all 
     project-based contracts under section 8 of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) in fiscal year 2009, 
     including expiring project-based contracts.
       This title may be cited as the ``Department of Housing and 
     Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2008''.

                               TITLE III

                          INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

       Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For expenses necessary for the Architectural and 
     Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, as authorized by 
     section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 
     $6,150,000: Provided, That, notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, there may be credited to this appropriation 
     funds received for publications and training expenses.

                      Federal Maritime Commission


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Federal Maritime Commission 
     as authorized by section 201(d) of the Merchant Marine Act, 
     1936, as amended (46 U.S.C. App. 1111), including services as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; hire of passenger motor vehicles 
     as authorized by 31 U.S.C. 1343(b); and uniforms or 
     allowances therefor, as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5901-5902, 
     $22,322,000: Provided, That not to exceed $2,000 shall be 
     available for official reception and representation expenses.

                  National Transportation Safety Board


                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the National Transportation 
     Safety Board, including hire of passenger motor vehicles and 
     aircraft; services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, but at 
     rates for individuals not to exceed the per diem rate 
     equivalent to the rate for a GS-15; uniforms, or allowances 
     therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901-5902) 
     $84,500,000, of which not to exceed $2,000 may be used for 
     official reception and representation expenses. The amounts 
     made available to the National Transportation Safety Board in 
     this Act include amounts necessary to make lease payments due 
     in fiscal year 2008 only, on an obligation incurred in fiscal 
     year 2001 for a capital lease.

                 Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation


          Payment to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

       For payment to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation 
     for use in neighborhood reinvestment activities, as 
     authorized by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 8101-8107), $119,800,000, of which $5,000,000 
     shall be for a multi-family rental housing program.

           United States Interagency Council on Homelessness


                           Operating Expenses

       For necessary expenses (including payment of salaries, 
     authorized travel, hire of passenger motor vehicles, the 
     rental of conference rooms, and the employment of experts and 
     consultants under section 3109 of title 5, United States 
     Code) of the United States Interagency Council on 
     Homelessness in carrying out the functions pursuant to title 
     II of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended, 
     $2,300,000.
       Title II of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as 
     amended, is amended in section 209 by striking ``2007'' and 
     inserting ``2008''.

                                TITLE IV

                      GENERAL PROVISIONS THIS ACT


                     (including transfers of funds)

       Sec. 401. Such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 
     2008 pay raises for programs funded in this Act shall be 
     absorbed within the levels appropriated in this Act or 
     previous appropriations Acts.
       Sec. 402. None of the funds in this Act shall be used for 
     the planning or execution of any program to pay the expenses 
     of, or otherwise compensate, non-Federal parties intervening 
     in regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings funded in this Act.
       Sec. 403. None of the funds appropriated in this Act shall 
     remain available for obligation beyond the current fiscal 
     year, nor may any be transferred to other appropriations, 
     unless expressly so provided herein.
       Sec. 404. The expenditure of any appropriation under this 
     Act for any consulting service through procurement contract 
     pursuant to section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, 
     shall be limited to those contracts where such expenditures 
     are a matter of public record and available for public 
     inspection, except where otherwise provided under existing 
     law, or under existing Executive order issued pursuant to 
     existing law.
       Sec. 405. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, none of 
     the funds provided in this Act, provided by previous 
     appropriations Acts to the agencies or entities funded in 
     this Act that remain available for obligation or expenditure 
     in fiscal year 2008, or provided from any accounts in the 
     Treasury derived by the collection of fees and available to 
     the agencies funded by this Act, shall be available for 
     obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming of funds 
     that: (1) creates a new program; (2) eliminates a program, 
     project, or activity; (3) increases funds or personnel for 
     any program, project, or activity for which funds have been 
     denied or restricted by the Congress; (4) proposes to use 
     funds directed for a specific activity by either the House or 
     Senate Committees on Appropriations for a different purpose; 
     (5) augments existing programs, projects, or activities in 
     excess of $5,000,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less; (6) 
     reduces existing programs, projects, or activities by 
     $5,000,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less; or (7) creates, 
     reorganizes, or restructures a branch, division, office, 
     bureau, board, commission, agency, administration, or 
     department different from the budget justifications submitted 
     to the Committees on Appropriations or the table accompanying 
     the statement of the managers accompanying this Act, 
     whichever is more detailed, unless prior approval is received 
     from the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations: 
     Provided, That not later than 60 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, each agency funded by this Act shall 
     submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the 
     Senate and of the House of Representatives to establish the 
     baseline for application of reprogramming and transfer 
     authorities for the current fiscal year: Provided further, 
     That the report shall include: (1) a table for each 
     appropriation with a separate column to display the 
     President's budget request, adjustments made by Congress, 
     adjustments due to enacted rescissions, if appropriate, and 
     the fiscal year enacted level; (2) a delineation in the table 
     for each appropriation both by object class and program, 
     project, and activity as detailed in the budget appendix for 
     the respective appropriation; and (3) an identification of 
     items of special congressional interest: Provided further, 
     That the amount appropriated or limited for salaries and 
     expenses for an agency shall be reduced by $100,000 per day 
     for each day after the required date that the report has not 
     been submitted to the Congress.
       Sec. 406. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, 
     not to exceed 50 percent of unobligated balances remaining 
     available at the end of fiscal year 2008 from appropriations 
     made available for salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2008 
     in this Act, shall remain available through September 30, 
     2009, for each such account for the purposes authorized: 
     Provided, That a request shall be submitted to the Committees 
     on Appropriations for approval prior to the expenditure of 
     such funds: Provided further, That these requests shall be 
     made in compliance with reprogramming guidelines.
       Sec. 407. All Federal agencies and departments that are 
     funded under this Act shall issue a report to the House and 
     Senate Committees on Appropriations on all sole source 
     contracts by no later than July 31, 2008. Such report shall 
     include the contractor, the amount of the contract and the 
     rationale for using a sole source contract.
       Sec. 408. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act 
     may be obligated or expended for any employee training that--
       (1) does not meet identified needs for knowledge, skills, 
     and abilities bearing directly upon the performance of 
     official duties;
       (2) contains elements likely to induce high levels of 
     emotional response or psychological stress in some 
     participants;
       (3) does not require prior employee notification of the 
     content and methods to be used in the training and written 
     end of course evaluation;
       (4) contains any methods or content associated with 
     religious or quasi-religious belief systems or ``new age'' 
     belief systems as defined in

[[Page 24278]]

     Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Notice N-915.022, 
     dated September 2, 1988; or
       (5) is offensive to, or designed to change, participants' 
     personal values or lifestyle outside the workplace.
       (b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit, restrict, or 
     otherwise preclude an agency from conducting training bearing 
     directly upon the performance of official duties.
       Sec. 409. No funds in this Act may be used to support any 
     Federal, State, or local projects that seek to use the power 
     of eminent domain, unless eminent domain is employed only for 
     a public use: Provided, That for purposes of this section, 
     public use shall not be construed to include economic 
     development that primarily benefits private entities: 
     Provided further, That any use of funds for mass transit, 
     railroad, airport, seaport or highway projects as well as 
     utility projects which benefit or serve the general public 
     (including energy-related, communication-related, water-
     related and wastewater-related infrastructure), other 
     structures designated for use by the general public or which 
     have other common-carrier or public-utility functions that 
     serve the general public and are subject to regulation and 
     oversight by the government, and projects for the removal of 
     an immediate threat to public health and safety or 
     brownsfield as defined in the Small Business Liability Relief 
     and Brownsfield Revitalization Act (Public Law 107-118) shall 
     be considered a public use for purposes of eminent domain: 
     Provided further, That the Government Accountability Office, 
     in consultation with the National Academy of Public 
     Administration, organizations representing State and local 
     governments, and property rights organizations, shall conduct 
     a study to be submitted to the Congress within 12 months of 
     the enactment of this Act on the nationwide use of eminent 
     domain, including the procedures used and the results 
     accomplished on a State-by-State basis as well as the impact 
     on individual property owners and on the affected 
     communities.
       Sec. 410. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be transferred to any department, agency, or instrumentality 
     of the United States Government, except pursuant to a 
     transfer made by, or transfer authority provided in, this Act 
     or any other appropriations Act.
       Sec. 411. No part of any appropriation contained in this 
     Act shall be available to pay the salary for any person 
     filling a position, other than a temporary position, formerly 
     held by an employee who has left to enter the Armed Forces of 
     the United States and has satisfactorily completed his period 
     of active military or naval service, and has within 90 days 
     after his release from such service or from hospitalization 
     continuing after discharge for a period of not more than 1 
     year, made application for restoration to his former position 
     and has been certified by the Office of Personnel Management 
     as still qualified to perform the duties of his former 
     position and has not been restored thereto.
       Sec. 412. No funds appropriated pursuant to this Act may be 
     expended by an entity unless the entity agrees that in 
     expending the assistance the entity will comply with sections 
     2 through 4 of the Act of March 3, 1933 (41 U.S.C. 10a-10c, 
     popularly known as the ``Buy American Act'').
       Sec. 413. No funds appropriated or otherwise made available 
     under this Act shall be made available to any person or 
     entity that has been convicted of violating the Buy American 
     Act (41 U.S.C. 10a-10c).
       Sec. 414. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in 
     an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in 
     excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or 
     grantee certifies in writing to the agency awarding the 
     contract or grant that the contractor or grantee has filed 
     all Federal tax returns required during the three years 
     preceding the certification, has not been convicted of a 
     criminal offense under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and 
     has not been notified of any unpaid Federal tax assessment 
     for which the liability remains unsatisfied unless the 
     assessment is the subject of an installment agreement or 
     offer in compromise that has been approved by the Internal 
     Revenue Service and is not in default or the assessment is 
     the subject of a non-frivolous administrative or judicial 
     appeal.
       Sec. 415. Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
     submit to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the 
     Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, 
     the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
     Senate, and the Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, a report 
     detailing how the Federal Aviation Administration plans to 
     alleviate air congestion and flight delays in the New York/
     New Jersey/Philadelphia Airspace by August 31, 2008.
       Sec. 416. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this Act may be obligated or expended by the 
     Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
     transfer the design and development functions of the FAA 
     Academy in their entirety or to implement the Air Traffic 
     Control Optimum Training Solution proposed by the 
     Administrator in its entirety prior to September 30, 2008.
       This Act may be cited as the ``Transportation, Housing and 
     Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
     2008''.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BOND. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri is 
recognized.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I congratulate and thank Senator Murray for 
being such an agile partner and such an effective leader. We finished 
the bill in almost record time. For a bill of this complexity, I might 
even claim it is record time.
  The legislation is very complex. You have seen that it is 
controversial and can even be very political, as we saw with the 
Mexican trucking issue.
  As always, Senator Murray deserves a great deal of credit and 
accolades for her ability to balance the many tough and controversial 
issues that make up the legislation, and to do so with a smile and good 
humor despite circumstances that would have brought out a more 
difficult response from a lesser person.
  We also thank her crack staff, including Peter Rogoff, Bill Simpson, 
Rachel Milberg, Meaghan McCarthy, and Teri Curtin. I also thank my 
staff for a great job: Jon Kamarck, Ellen Beares, and Matt McCardle. 
Each of them brought special contributions, as well as hard work, to 
the bill, spending many late nights and weekends to make sure the HUD 
fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill would reflect a balanced and 
bipartisan approach to the legislation that could be supported by 
Members on both sides of the aisle. We thank the overwhelming majority 
who voted for it. A special thanks goes to our Republican and 
Democratic floor staff for bringing their special expertise and making 
us all look the part of respectable, hard-charging legislators and 
untangling the knots that sometimes occur in the process.
  As I did on Monday, I want to brag about our ability to include 
funding increases above the budget request for HUD's housing and 
community development programs. These are important programs to help 
build our communities and without which a number of persons--a 
significant number of persons--would be placed at risk of homelessness. 
That would have been a particular hardship on many seniors and persons 
with disabilities.
  I also want to repeat my gratitude that we were able to include $75 
million in section 8 funds for the VA Affairs Supportive Housing 
Program. It is critical as service people continue to return from Iraq 
and face new realities that can include the need for housing and other 
services. This program will become even more worthwhile as young, 
disabled service men and women make the difficult adjustment to 
civilian life.
  As Members know, after 2 full days on this bill, with regard to FAA, 
this bill continues to support the beginning stage of the NextGen Air 
Transportation System. This bill also contains funds above the 
administration's request for flight inspection and certification 
personnel.
  These funds are needed and will ensure the continued safety of the 
National Airspace System. I also want to note the additional funds for 
the Airport Improvement Program, which has been and remains an 
important bipartisan priority for this subcommittee.
  In addition, the bill meets the guarantees of SAFETEA for highways 
and, and for the most part, transit. We include the revenue aligned 
budget authority, RABA, which was not included in the President's 
budget. In addition, we have included some $1 billion in obligation 
limitation as a starter account for the inspection of our aging bridges 
after those tragic deaths in Minnesota when the bridge collapsed.
  Finally, as I noted previously, there are some issues that we will 
have to address before the bill can become law. For example, we include 
the revenue aligned budget authority which was not included in the 
President's budget. The bill also contains a $2.89 billion rescission 
of highway contract authority apportionments to the states, used as a 
budgetary offset. The bill also includes an additional $43,359,000 in 
Admin CA and another $172,243,000 in an unused transportation 
innovative financing infrastructure account, TIFIA, contract

[[Page 24279]]

authority for a total offset of spending of $3.495 billion. HUD also 
includes a rescission of $1.1 billion.
  Finally, I continue to be concerned over HUD's and OMB's failure to 
provide adequate funding for HUD's section 8 project-based housing 
program for fiscal year 2008. This is not an option but is a 
contractual obligation. Most important, this is a critical and 
important program that serves many of our most vulnerable citizens such 
as extremely low-income families, including seniors and persons with 
disabilities. HUD has been unable to fund fully or timely many of these 
contracts during fiscal year 2007, and I understand that this problem 
will only get worse in fiscal year 2008 with HUD facing a shortfall in 
its section 8 project-based account of $2 billion or more. I know this 
program enjoys wide support in this Congress and I would fully expect 
OMB to provide the necessary funds for the program through a budget 
amendment or as part of a continuing resolution or through emergency 
supplemental legislation.
  And while I am pleased with much of the bill, especially needed 
spending in critical programs, I am concerned that we are on a 
collision course with the White House on the spending levels contained 
in this bill. I fear that both sides are going to have to make 
adjustments. I just hope that any adjustments do not result in the loss 
of any of the positive investments made we have made in this bill.
  I will conclude by again thanking my colleague, Senator Murray, her 
staff, my staff, and the floor staff. Thanks for the help of everybody.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate insists on its amendment, requests a conference with the House, 
and the Chair appoints the following conferees.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore appointed Mrs. Murray, Mr. Byrd, Ms. 
Mikulski, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Harkin, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Bond, Mr. 
Shelby, Mr. Specter, Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
Stevens, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Allard, and Mr. Cochran 
conferees on the part of the Senate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington is 
recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, let me thank my colleague from Missouri, 
Senator Bond, who has worked hard with me, the staff, and all of us who 
have been working to get this bill to the floor and pass it. It is an 
extremely difficult bill, covering a wide variety of programs and 
projects throughout the country. We started this process way back in 
the beginning of the year with the budget process. He and I spent many 
conversations on the phone working together, getting our bill through 
subcommittee, full committee, and now to the Senate floor.
  I could not have done it without Senator Bond's help and support, 
particularly in the housing arena, helping to work through a lot of 
difficult issues. I thank him in particular for his diligence and his 
ability to help us get through this today.
  Also, I thank his staff: Jon Kamarck, Ellen Beares, and Matt 
McCardle. They have been there time and again to help us work through 
the issues. I thank my staff: Peter Rogoff, Rachel Milberg, Bill 
Simpson, Meaghan McCarthy, and Terri Curtin. They spent innumerable 
all-night sessions trying to get us to reach deadlines and get the bill 
to the Senate floor. Without their expertise, we would not be here. I 
thank them on behalf of all of us in this country. I thank, from my 
personal staff, Travis Lumpkin, who has been here working with us to 
get this bill through, as well as Mike Spahn, of my floor staff, who 
spent a lot of time helping us work through all the difficult parts of 
the bill. It takes a lot of people to get a bill of this complexity to 
the floor, and every one of them should be recognized.
  We cannot do these bills on our own. A lot of people put a lot of 
time and energy into getting us to this point. I thank Senators Byrd 
and Cochran, the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, who 
have worked with all of us on appropriations to get our work done in a 
timely fashion.
  This bill is headed to conference. It is an extremely important bill. 
As we have heard throughout the last days as we have debated the bill, 
every American is touched by the impact of this legislation. If you get 
up and go to work, whether you drive or, as we heard yesterday, ride a 
bike; whether you go on an Amtrak train or if you have to fly, what we 
decide in this bill and how we set spending priorities makes a 
difference in your life.
  For many Americans who are facing a housing crisis today, this bill 
addresses those concerns, as the Senator from Missouri talked about. 
This is an extremely important piece of legislation. We received the 
President's budget with severe cuts in Amtrak, in housing, in FAA 
modernization, and many more that I have talked about over the last 
several days. This Senate has said we have to invest in the 
infrastructure of this country. We need to move forward in making sure 
that average, everyday Americans who get up and go to work, enjoy time 
with their families, who want to be able to participate in our 
communities, have a right to do that, and we have an obligation as a 
Congress to make sure the infrastructure is in place.
  We are going to continue to work on this bill with our colleagues on 
the other side of the Capitol, our House counterparts. I hope we can 
get a bill to the President and get it signed and move these programs 
forward so the money we have debated and talked about will be allocated 
and our communities across this country will benefit from it.
  Mr. President, I again thank my colleague from Missouri.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I want to make a few comments about H.R. 
3074, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations 
Act of 2007, which we passed earlier today by an overwhelming 
bipartisan majority. This bill will make much-needed investments in 
aging roads and bridges around the country. It will help make the skies 
safer for travel. It will revitalize struggling communities with 
economic development grants. And it will get a roof over the heads of 
many of the 200,000 veterans who find themselves homeless on any given 
night.
  I want to thank Chairman Murray, Ranking Member Bond, Chairman Byrd, 
Ranking Member Cochran, and all the members of the committee for their 
work on a bill that makes such wise investments in our transportation, 
in our communities, and in our veterans.
  This summer, as Americans took to the highways with their families, 
traveling long stretches of bumpy roads across aging bridges on their 
way to their vacation destination, they were painfully aware of our 
Government's neglect of our transportation infrastructure over the last 
several years.
  Potholes and traffic jams can take a toll on your car and your 
pocketbook. A 2006 survey showed that driving on rough roads is costing 
the average urban motorist about $383 a year in added vehicle 
maintenance costs. With gas inching back toward $3 a gallon, that is an 
added strain on a family's budget.
  Beyond this economic strain, though, failing and deteriorating 
infrastructure can lead to tragic consequences. Roadway conditions are 
a significant factor in approximately one-third of traffic fatalities.
  The August 1 collapse of I-35W in Minneapolis was among the most 
tragic examples of this danger. Thirteen people died, and around 100 
were injured, when the eight-lane truss bridge collapsed into the 
Mississippi River.
  The Minneapolis disaster has engineers and planners around the 
country taking a second look at the condition of their bridges. And 
what they are finding is troubling.
  In Colorado, nearly 7 percent of our bridges are structurally 
deficient and need immediate attention. 110 bridges that belong to the 
State need full replacement. Another 375 need rehabilitation. 
Unfortunately, the backlog of bridgework that needs to be done in

[[Page 24280]]

our State is an overwhelming $758 million. In Colorado and across the 
country, we desperately need more resources to get this work done. I 
believe the Senate made a wise investment when it voted overwhelmingly 
in support of Senator Murray's amendment to add $1 billion in dedicated 
funding for the Federal Highway Administration's bridge replacement and 
rehabilitation program.
  We also must recommit ourselves to investing in our roads and 
highways. They are the veins of commerce that sustain our economy. Our 
ability to move goods and people quickly and safely is absolutely 
fundamental to continued growth.
  The American people, and the people of Colorado, understand this. 
When I visit a town like Gunnison, maintenance and improvements to 
Highway 50, which links Pueblo and the Front Range with Gunnison and 
the Western Slope, is at the top of the list for local elected 
officials. When I visit Eagle County, Clear Creek County, and Summit 
County, I-70 investments are front and center. And when I meet with 
officials in Lamar, Springfield, and Eads, maintenance of Highway 287, 
part of the ``Ports to Plains'' corridor, is the topic of conversation.
  For each of these communities, good roads are essential for economic 
vitality. Across the political spectrum, across a broad range of 
interests and professions, Coloradans understand this. Two years ago, 
we voted to allow the state government to retain an additional $5.7 
billion in revenues over 5 years to help fund our schools and our 
roads. The statewide referendum passed comfortably because the Colorado 
business community knows that failing infrastructure is a drag on an 
economy. Smart investments in bridges, roads, and airports yield strong 
returns over the long term.
  The bill we passed earlier today makes these needed investments in 
our Nation's transportation infrastructure. It allocates $65.7 billion 
to transportation, including $40.2 billion for highway construction.
  This will allow for us to move ahead with several vital projects in 
Colorado.
  Notably, the bill includes $5 million for continued construction of a 
new interchange near Gate 20 at Fort Carson. The Mountain Post is 
accommodating two additional brigades and is growing by approximately 
12,000 troops over the next 2 years. Gate 20 allows soldiers and 
contractors to enter the base from Fountain, Pueblo, and points south 
of the base. The base commander, General Mixon, sees this as a top 
priority and we help him fulfill it with this bill.
  Additionally, the bill provides $2 million for work on the Ports to 
Plains Highway, U.S. 287, near Lamar. This builds on the over $11 
million we have invested in his project over the past 3 years to build 
the capacity of this major north-south commercial artery. I have driven 
that road many times over the past few years, and it is improving 
steadily. You see more trucks on that road now, and you see more goods 
moving to market more quickly.
  In southern Colorado, we have included funding to restore a road 
leading to one of our newest national parks, Great Sand Dunes, in my 
native San Luis Valley. 300,000 visitors a year come to Great Sand 
Dunes. It is a boon to the local economy, and the $3 million for 
resurfacing State Highway 150 to the Sand Dunes will help more 
Americans see this treasure of the American West.
  But the transportation portion of this bill does not simply fund new 
roads. It also includes forward-thinking investments in mass transit 
solutions to reduce the wear and tear on our highways, to save gas, and 
to unclog traffic jams. This bill includes $70 million for the Denver 
Regional Transportation District's West Corridor Light Rail Project and 
$70 million for RTD's Southeast Corridor Multi-Modal Project. 
Coloradans know it as T-Rex. It blends light rail and highway 
improvements in one of the largest mass transit projects that is 
underway in the United States. It is changing how people commute and 
where they are choosing to live. This bill keeps Denver's 
transportation revolution on track.
  Finally, I would also like to express my strong support for the 
funding this legislation makes available for the community development 
block grant program. I have heard from public officials across 
Colorado, and they all tell me that the CDBG program is one of the most 
effective Federal Government programs available to cities, towns, and 
rural communities in our State, and across the Nation.
  Last year, Colorado alone received nearly $40 million from the CDBG 
program, with several towns and cities receiving in excess of $1.5 
million apiece. While the President's budget would have cut this 
funding by 20 percent, the underlying legislation restores those cuts 
and provides $3.77 billion for the program. We should not be slashing 
funding for one of our most effective and efficient tools for 
energizing communities and improving housing infrastructure. This bill 
does the right thing and restores this program.
  I am proud of the bill that we passed--it sets the right priorities 
and makes smart investments in our transportation infrastructure and in 
our communities. I want to again thank Chairman Murray, Ranking Member 
Bond, the Appropriations Committee, and their staffs for their work on 
this bill. I hope it is signed into law.

                          ____________________