So now that the U.S. House has passed the federal stimulus bill, you might be wondering what’s in it for Texas?
The real answer is this: Wait a week or two, and once the Senate passes its version and the conference committees hashed out a final compromise, then I’ll tell you.
The final House bill would involve about $819 billion in spending and tax cuts, including about $30 billion for highways and bridges. A late-rally by transit supporters managed to push an amendment through that upped transit spending from about $9 billion to $12 billion.
The Senate bill is expected to be more expensive, so the final numbers could change, but senior TxDOT officials have crunched some of the numbers for Texas. They said Wednesday the state would likely get about $2.4 billion for highways and bridges. My colleague Dave Michaels has reported that before, but TxDOT sketched a few more details about how the transportation related piece of the pie would be split.
For starters, about 55 percent of the money would stay with TxDOT, with its five commissioners having the final say about where the money would be spent.