The appropriations for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) for the 2010 fiscal year have passed the Senate subcommittee and committee and have been placed on the Senate's Legislative Calendar. There have been two notable changes to the legislation while in committee.

First, an amendment to the Bill has changed the way the federal government will determine eligibility for federal funds in multi-modal construction projects. The chair of the subcommittee, Patty Murray (D-WA) proposed an amendment that would require the federal government to treat multi-modal projects as a single project. Under the unamended legislation multi-modal projects were treated as separate projects for determining their eligibility for federal funds to support projects. (A bridge for automobiles and trains was considered a railroad project and a separate highway project.) The result was that taken separately, one of the projects may have had federal funds available while the other did not; causing problems for the project as a whole. The amendment, which was adopted, would treat a multi-modal project as only one project when determining eligibility and qualifications for federal funds.

Further, there were additional funds set aside similar to the TIGER grant funds that were created in the "Recovery Act" from February. The Recovery Act set aside 1.5 billion dollars for construction projects to be awarded on a competitive basis. Applications for those grants are due by September 15, 2009. The pending legislation will assign an additional 1.1 billion dollars to similar projects. Applications for these new funds will be due approximately four months after the legislation is signed in to law.

The legislation will remain pending until the Senate reconvenes.