This week in Washington, House and Senate Appropriators unveiled six of the finalized fiscal 2024 spending bills, teeing up votes this week in both chambers that would head off a partial government shutdown Friday night. The six-bill package includes Agriculture, Military Construction-VA, Energy-Water and Transportation-HUD (THUD), along with the Interior-Environment and Commerce-Justice-Science measures. The bills fund the relevant federal agencies for the remainder of FY24, which goes through September 30, 2024. The final THUD bill fully funds the Bus and Bus Facility Program at levels authorized in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Full funding for bus programs was reflected in both the House and Senate versions, so we are pleased to see continued broad bicameral and bipartisan support for bus transit. We strongly support passage of the FY24 THUD bill and would encourage you to reach out to your Senators and Representatives to ask them to support the final package.Unfortunately, the $212 million plus-up for bus programs contained in the Senate bill was removed from the final version. This was not a surprise as we saw the costs of the housing programs escalate in the past six months and we remained in close contact with the appropriations committee about the challenges they faced. However, the THUD bill did include an additional $206 million in Congressionally Directed Spending for transit projects, most of which are bus related earmarks (new buses and facilities). These funds are above and beyond authorized levels.-Information courtesy of The Bus Coalition.