President Joe Biden signed H.R. 3746, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which paired spending cuts and caps with suspending the debt limit through January 1, 2025.
The agreement calls for $40.2 billion in cuts to non-defense spending, institutes a 1% mandatory reduction in spending if all 12 appropriations bills are not passed in a timely way, and rescinds certain unspent COVID funds including some funds dedicated to the Federal Highway Administration.
TIA said the agreement included portions of H.R. 1577, the Builder Act, which reforms NEPA with a two-year deadline for the lead agency to complete an environmental impact statement, and one year for an environmental assessment. Additionally, the bill protects the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act from future cuts by ensuring that any cuts from the program will not be deemed as savings and cannot be used to pay for new spending.
Despite the cuts and caps included in this bill, TIA said it will continue to lobby in support of funding above IIJA levels to deal with the backlog in bridge and highway investments and offset the impact inflation has caused on the cost of highway projects.
