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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2495 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2495

 Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for the TIGER 
          Discretionary Grant program, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2015

Ms. Maxine Waters of California (for herself, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Bass, Mrs. 
Beatty, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Cicilline, Mrs. 
 Watson Coleman, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Keating, Ms. Lee, Ms. 
 Jackson Lee, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Moore, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. 
  Rush, Mr. Sires, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Welch, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. 
    Higgins, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rangel, Mr. 
 Grijalva, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. 
    Pingree, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carson of 
  Indiana, Mr. Takano, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Walz, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. 
 Cardenas, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. 
 Wilson of Florida, Mr. Richmond, Ms. Hahn, Ms. Plaskett, Ms. Judy Chu 
 of California, Mr. Heck of Washington, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Tonko, Mr. 
 Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Himes, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, 
 Mr. Ellison, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Payne, Mr. Delaney, Mr. Scott 
    of Virginia, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. 
DelBene, Mr. Clay, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Fudge, Ms. 
 Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Kildee, and 
Mrs. Dingell) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for the TIGER 
          Discretionary Grant program, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The economy is still struggling to recover from the 
        recession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 
        unemployment rate is 5.4 percent nationwide and is 
        significantly higher in some minority and disadvantaged 
        communities.
            (2) The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the public 
        infrastructure of the United States a grade of ``D+'' in 2013 
        and estimated that we will need to invest $3.6 trillion by 2020 
        in order to improve the condition of our Nation's public 
        infrastructure.
            (3) TIGER, formally known as the Transportation Investment 
        Generating Economic Recovery grant program, is a nationwide 
        competitive grant program that creates jobs by funding 
        investments in transportation infrastructure by States, local 
        governments, and transit agencies.
            (4) TIGER funds projects that will have a significant 
        impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region.
            (5) In distributing grants under TIGER, the Secretary of 
        Transportation is required to ensure an equitable geographic 
        distribution of funds, a balance in addressing the needs of 
        urban and rural areas, and investments in a variety of modes of 
        transportation.
            (6) TIGER received an appropriation of $600,000,000 in 
        fiscal year 2014 and an appropriation of $500,000,000 in fiscal 
        year 2015.
            (7) Past appropriations for TIGER are not sufficient to 
        address the need for investments in transportation 
        infrastructure in communities throughout the United States as 
        the amounts only fund a small fraction of the transportation 
        infrastructure projects for which TIGER grant applications have 
        been received.
            (8) The President requested an appropriation of $1.25 
        billion for TIGER in fiscal year 2016, as part of an expanded 
        TIGER program that will provide $7.5 billion for TIGER over 6 
        years.
            (9) Appropriating $7.5 billion in fiscal year 2016 for 
        TIGER and allowing the funds to remain available for 6 years 
        will enable the Secretary of Transportation to begin 
        immediately to implement the President's proposal to expand the 
        TIGER program.
            (10) Restricting appropriations for TIGER through the use 
        of arbitrary budget caps or sequestration undermines economic 
        recovery and job creation efforts; disrupts planning by States, 
        local governments, and transit agencies; and leaves critical 
        infrastructure needs unmet.
            (11) Emergency supplemental appropriations for TIGER, 
        provided in addition to other appropriations and not subject to 
        sequestration, will improve transportation infrastructure and 
        create jobs throughout the United States without reducing 
        funding for other domestic priorities.
            (12) An emergency supplemental appropriation of $7.5 
        billion for TIGER to be made available in fiscal year 2016 and 
        to remain available for 6 years will allow the Secretary of 
        Transportation to begin immediately to organize new 
        competitions for TIGER grants and allow States, local 
        governments, and transit agencies to prepare grant 
        applications, thus ensuring an efficient use of funds and 
        timely job creation.

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

    The following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for fiscal year 2016:

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

                        Office of the Secretary

                  national infrastructure investments

    For an additional amount for ``National Infrastructure 
Investments'' in accordance with the provisions under this heading in 
title I of division K of Public Law 113-235, $7,500,000,000, to remain 
available through September 30, 2021: Provided, That the amount under 
this heading is designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement 
pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985, except that such amount shall be available 
only if the President subsequently so designates such amount and 
transmits such designation to the Congress.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FROM SEQUESTRATION.

    The appropriation in section 3 shall be exempt from sequestration 
under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
                                 <all>
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