(originally posted August 1, 2018 on Eno Center for Transportation)

The U.S. Senate agreed to a one-year ban on any new procurements of mass transit railcars or buses from companies owned or subsidized by the government of the People’s Republic of China, if the procurement uses any Federal Transit Administration formula or bus funding.

A modified version of an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was adopted by voice vote as part of a bipartisan “manager’s package” of 40-odd amendments to the four-bill “minibus” appropriations measure for fiscal 2019 (H.R. 6147), which includes the annual Transportation-HUD appropriations bill.

The Senate language is a more refined and precise version of language that is already included in the version of the legislation reported in the House of Representatives (H.R. 6072). Section 165 of the House bill prevents any fiscal 2019 FTA funding from being used to procure any rail or transit asset from an entity owned, directed, or subsidized by a country that is not spelled out by name in the section but is clearly the People’s Republic of China. For the full article, click here.