Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “TIGER Grants for Job Creation Act”.
TIGER Grants for Job Creation Act
A BILL
Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2013 for the TIGER Discretionary Grant program, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The economy is struggling to recover from the recession. The unemployment rate is nearly 8 percent nationwide and is even higher in minority and disadvantaged communities.
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure estimated that there is a $549,500,000,000 shortfall in investments in roads and bridges and an additional $190,100,000,000 shortfall in investments in transit.
TIGER, formally known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, is a nationwide competitive grant program that creates jobs by funding investments in transportation infrastructure by States, local governments, and transit agencies.
TIGER funds projects that will have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region.
In distributing grants under TIGER, the Secretary of Transportation is required to ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds, a balance in addressing the needs of urban and rural areas, and investments in a variety of modes of transportation.
Past appropriations for TIGER are not sufficient to address the need for investments in transportation infrastructure in communities throughout the United States as the amounts only fund a small fraction of the transportation infrastructure projects for which TIGER grant applications have been received.
TIGER received an appropriation of $500,000,000 in fiscal year 2012.
The President requested an appropriation of $500,000,000 for TIGER in fiscal year 2013.
The Secretary of Transportation has been unable to organize a competition for TIGER grants in 2013 due to the uncertainty surrounding sequestration and fiscal year 2013 appropriations.
Restricting appropriations for TIGER through the use of arbitrary budget caps or sequestration undermines economic recovery and job creation efforts; disrupts planning by States, local governments, and transit agencies; and leaves critical infrastructure needs unmet.
Emergency supplemental appropriations for TIGER, provided in addition to other appropriations and not subject to sequestration, will improve transportation infrastructure and create jobs throughout the United States without reducing funding for other domestic priorities.
An emergency supplemental appropriation of $500,000,000 for TIGER to be made available in fiscal year 2013 and an additional emergency supplemental appropriation of $500,000,000 to be made available in fiscal year 2014 will allow the Secretary of Transportation to begin immediately to organize new competitions for TIGER grants and allow States, local governments, and transit agencies to prepare grant applications, thus ensuring an efficient use of funds and timely job creation.
Sec. 3 Supplemental appropriations for TIGER discretionary grant program
The following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for fiscal year 2013:
Sec. 4 Exemption from sequestration
The appropriation in section 3 shall be exempt from any sequestration under section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901a).