House passes $51B Transportation/HUD spending bill for 2013

By Pete Kasperowicz - 06/29/12 01:10 PM ET

The House approved a bill funding the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for 2013, the sixth of 12 spending bills the House is hoping to finish before the end of the fiscal year.

Members approved the bill, H.R. 5972, in a 261-163 vote. The bill, H.R. 5972, was supported by 76 Democrats, and 54 Republicans voted against it.

The legislation would spend $51.6 billion in 2013, a cut of about $4 billion from 2012 levels. But as has been the case with other spending bills, several House Republicans tried unsuccessfully to cut spending further along the way.

In Wednesday votes, the House rejected $4.7 million in additional cuts, including a proposal to eliminate HUD's community development block grant program, which would have saved $3.4 billion. That amendment failed 80-342, and was opposed by most Republicans.

Those and other Republican proposals generally failed due to a split within the Republican Party. On Friday, the House voted 166-254 against a proposal from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) to cut spending by 1 percent across the board.

However, the GOP-led House did approve several amendments that limit the way Transportation, HUD and other covered agencies can spend money in the bill. One such amendment approved Wednesday would prevent the secretary of Transportation from exploring ways to tax automobile owners based on how many miles they drive.

On Friday, the House also voice-voted an amendment from Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.) to prohibit any funds from being used to implement any rule requiring GPS tracking or other devices to be installed in passenger or commercial vehicles.

House passage sends the bill to the Senate, which has so far not approved any 2013 spending bills.

When it returns from the July 4 break, the House is expected to work on three separate spending bills for the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Treasury.