Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), the first Delaware Senator in more than four decades to serve on the critical Appropriations Committee, joined his colleagues on the committee to approve the annual appropriations bill for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. This appropriations bill supports Sen. Coons’ priority of investing in America’s transportation infrastructure.

Senator Coons fought for $1.6 billion in funding for Amtrak and for rail development programs recently authorized through the FAST Act: $92.5 million for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI), $26 million for Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair, and $5 million for Restoration and Enhancement Grants. Senator Coons also fought for $3.6 billion for the Airport Improvement Program and $45 billion for the Federal-Aid Highways Program. The funding for Amtrak will ensure that rail passengers are able to easily move to and from Wilmington for business and personal reasons. The Airport Improvement Program has funded many upgrades in the past few years at a number of airports throughout the state. Funding for the Federal-Aid Highways Program supports Delaware highway systems by providing financial assistance for construction, maintenance and operations.

“We value our infrastructure and we need to continue these investments,” said Sen. Coons. “These investments are important to our families and children so they can enjoy safer highways, modern airports, and quality rail service now and into the future.”

“In order to bring a world class rail system that every American can be proud of, we must start with funding the very things that keep the country rolling; tracks, bridges, tunnels and rail equipment,” said John McCloskey, General Chairman of Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation Union. “The American public, the tax payers, deserve better than an underfunded Amtrak who must operate over tracks and tunnels that are over a hundred years old in some places. We need to invest now in American steel, American concrete, American locomotives and American jobs that provide the type of jobs that families can live and be able to send their kids to college. “I have seen the fruits of these investments first hand in my home State of Delaware through TIGER grants that have helped our rail system and port of Wilmington.”

Senator Coons also fought for an increase to $550 million for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program. While President Trump had proposed eliminating the TIGER grant program, the Appropriations Committee rejected this idea. The TIGER grant program is extremely popular, helping fund a wide variety of infrastructure projects through a competitive grant process. The TIGER grant program helps state and local governments pay for new highways and bridges, public transit projects, railways, and port infrastructure; and finances innovative shovel-ready projects to improve the U.S. transportation system. The recent announcement in Newark rail station improvements will be partially funded by TIGER grants. Delaware has received four TIGER grants that have been used to design and build the Newark rail station, improve the port of Wilmington, and build the new Claymont station.

 

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