Highway, Aviation, Rail Aid Grows in Obama Budget

President Barack Obama proposed a 16 percent transportation spending increase for fiscal 2012 while tying spending on many highway, aviation and rail programs to Congress passing a multiyear funding bill.

The plan calls on Congress to approve $556 billion in surface transportation spending over six years, almost doubling the amount from the $286.5 billion enacted by Congress in 2005. The president’s plan doesn’t specify where revenue fueling the increase would come from.