FHWA Administrator Gregory Nadeau said in a statement, "By providing a path to put nearly two billion stranded dollars to work, we have an important opportunity to support infrastructure projects across the country while at the same time clearing a legacy backlog and promoting good government."Right. Good government means spending every dime we can. What would you want us to do? Pay it back to taxpayers? Retire the Federal Debt? Who could choose?
The appropriations measure says that to be eligible for the funding shift, earmarked projects had to have been authorized or had funds appropriated before Oct. 1, 2005. They also had to have less than 10% of their funds obligated, or spent, as of Dec. 18, the spending bill's enactment date.
The impact will vary from state to state. Just counting projects with less than 10% funding obligated, ENR calculates that New York has the largest amount of potential repurposed funds, with $215.6 million. Georgia ranks second, with $166 million; followed by California, with $126.1 million; Virginia, with $122.7 million; and New Jersey, with $116.9 million. North Dakota and Wyoming, on the other hand, have no eligible orphan earmarks in the under-10% category.
Apparently, that's bad government.
But wait! There's more!
Also available for "repurposing" are unspent money for projects that have more than 10% of their funding obligated and are completed, according to FHWA. Data shows that unobligated amount is $3.3 billion on top of the $1.96 billion. But not all of that $3.3 billion may end up being reused.
The appropriations statute attaches another string to the money, specifying that the funds must be reused on other projects located within 50 miles of the original earmarked project.
Once my boodle, always my boodle.