House Appropriations Committee approves bill that would use $1 billion in HSR funds to pay for flood relief

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a FY2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that includes $1 billion in emergency funding to address recent Mississippi River and Missouri River flood disasters. Where will that $1 billion come from? The High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program.

Proposed by House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), an amendment to the FY2012 legislation calls for rescinding $1 billion in unobligated high-speed stimulus funds to help fund “flood fighting activities and restoration of flood prevention systems,” according to a prepared statement.

To date, the Federal Railroad Administration has obligated $5.8 billion in HSIPR funds. The amount of unobligated American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars currently stands at $2.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.