Congressional committees have provided more specifics about spending cuts stemming from the April 8 budget agreement--and they show that construction takes further hits.

The new cuts are contained in a continuing resolution (CR) that will carry federal construction accounts and other programs through Sept. 30, the last day of fiscal 2011.

 Dept. of Transportation construction accounts are among the targets. High-speed rail funding would be sliced by an additional $1.4 billion--$1 billion from fiscal 2011 funds which DOT had yet to award, and $400 million from 2010 funds.

That $400-million rescission will affect the current competition among 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak for rail funds that Florida turned back earlier this year.  The rescission slices the amount up for competition to $2 billion, from $2.4 billion.

That $1.4-billion reduction follows a $1.5-billion rail funding cut under a one-week stopgap measure enacted on April 9.


The pending CR also slices federal highway contract authority by $2.5 billion and $630 million in earmarks for projects authorized in prior years.

Federal Transit Administration capital grants are cut by $400 million, on top of a $280- million reduction under the current one-week mini-CR.

Military construction accounts are reduced by $6.2 billion, but that appears to include a planned decline of about $5 billion this year because of the winding-down of the Base Realignment and Closure program.

Another target is Environmental Protection Agency aid to state revolving funds that finance water infrastructure. Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs would be reduced by a total of $997 million under the pending CR.

The Corps  of Engineers civil works accounts would be pared by an additional $234 million, on top of $341 million in cuts enacted in a previous stopgap.

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs construction accounts for major and minor projects are trimmed by a combined $277 million.

The budget agreement has been portrayed as containing about $38.5 billion in spending cuts, compared with enacted 2010 levels. But the latest CR--which still faces House and Senate floor votes--contains about $26 billion in cuts.

The other $12 billion in reductions was included in three earlier, already enacted stopgaps--which were signed into law on  March 2 ($4 billion in cuts), March 18 ($6 billion) and April 9 ($2 billion).