House approves several funding limitation amendments to Transportation/HUD bill

The House late Wednesday approved 10 amendments to the 2013 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development spending bill, before adjourning just before 11:15 p.m.

Still up for a vote on Thursday are proposals to cut $500 million from the bill, and prohibit the government from requiring GPS tracking devices in cars, among others.

Earlier in the evening, the House approved an amendment preventing the Transportation Department from exploring ways to tax drivers by the mile.

Amendments accepted by voice vote Wednesday night were from:

• Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), to prevent funds from being used by the Secretary of Transportation to research or implement a distance-based fee system, or Vehicle Miles Traveled system.

• Cravaack, to prohibit funds from being used to further implementation of the European Union greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme for aviation activities.

• Bill Posey (R-Fla.), to prohibit funds from being used for the international highway technology scanning program.

• Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), to prohibit funds from being used for livable or sustainable community grants.

• Bill Flores (R-Texas), to prohibit the use of funds to ban coal to liquid alternative fuel processes.

• Michael Turner (R-Ohio), to ensure conflicting regulations don't impede the development of senior veterans' housing on VA property using enhanced use leases.

• Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), to prohibit the use of funds to enforce a rule from the Secretary of HUD relating to the implementation of the Fair Housing Act's Discriminatory Effects standards.

• Bill Cassidy (R-La.), to prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from transferring money to support the Essential Air Service.

• Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), to prohibit funds from being used to design, construct or operate a streetcar in Cincinnati.

• Steve Scalise (R-La.), to prohibit the use of funds to implement any rule that prohibits an owner or landlord from using a criminal conviction to deny housing to an applicant.

The House disposed of several other amendments, from:

• Tom Price (R-Ga.), to prohibit the use of funds by the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to require the placement of line markers other than at public road crossings and railroad crossings. Withdrawn.

• Michael Burgess (R-Texas), to prohibit the use of funds for operating unmanned aircraft as a weapon against a person or property, or to manufacture, sell, or distribute that equipment. Point of order.

• Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), to prohibit funds from being used to build flood protection walls for Interstate 5 between mile posts 72 and 82 in Lewis County, Washington. Withdrawn.

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