California transit projects at stake in Washington budget battles WASHINGTON - Sure, the budget battles could shut down the federal government. But they also could have consequences for an extension of L.A.'s subway, California's bullet train and efforts to reduce helicopter noise. Those are among the lower-profile but still vital issues at stake in Congress' spending fight. Los Angeles could find itself short of the federal funds it has sought for an eagerly awaited subway extension to the city's Westside and construction of a downtown tunnel to link rail lines. President Obama included $65 million in his proposed budget for each of the projects. But House Republicans, in their drive to reduce Washington's red ink, provided no money for the efforts in a proposed transportation spending bill. The proposed Senate bill would provide funds for the projects. But the House and Senate bills stalled before lawmakers broke for their summer recess amid fighting over the overall level of spending in the bills, leaving the fate of the projects up in the air. Los Angeles officials are hoping that a stopgap spending bill that Congress must approve in September to avert a government shutdown Oct. 1 will include funding for the projects. But in today's political climate, there are no sure bets in Washington. Last year, Obama included money in his proposed budget for the projects, but Congress, engaged in a similar budget fight, provided nothing. Still, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials remain optimistic. "I think we're positively positioned to secure new starts funding this year, despite congressional difficulties in adopting a stand-alone 2014 transportation appropriations bill," said Raffi Hamparian, the agency's director of federal affairs. Both projects are well positioned to secure funding in a scenario under which a continuing [funding] resolution is adopted. The Los Angeles projects are located in a heavily Democratic city, miles away from a Republican congressman's district. That makes it difficult for Los Angeles officials to find a GOP lawmaker to champion the projects. Still, L.A. officials have strong allies in the Democratic-run Senate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Perhaps more important, another big project with its funding at stake is in Washington state, home of Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate transportation appropriations subcommittee who will play a critical role in writing any transportation spending bill. L.A. officials are relying on Uncle Sam to fund about half of the $2.8-billion first segment of the subway extension, taking it from Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue to Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevard. Federal funding also is being sought for about half of the nearly $1.4-billion downtown tunnel to link the Gold Line from Pasadena and East L.A. to the Blue Line from Long Beach and the Expo Line from Culver City. House Republicans proposed spending about $1.8 billion nationwide for new transit projects but sought to limit the spending to projects that have received federal approval. Los Angeles officials hope the Federal Transit Administration will sign a formal funding commitment for the downtown rail connector in November and for the subway extension in February. But even if the administration signs the funding commitment, Congress must vote to appropriate funds. MTA officials say that if the agency receives a federal commitment to fund the projects, it could still move ahead - even without a full federal appropriation in the coming fiscal year. The authority would use the nearly $1 billion it expects to borrow under a recently expanded federal loan program. If federal officials fail to sign the commitment, the projects would probably be delayed, the spokesman said. The budget battle also could thwart a Feinstein effort to turn up the pressure on the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce helicopter noise over L.A. An FAA study recently recommended a voluntary approach rather than government regulation to reduce the noise, citing the complexity of the region's airspace and high volume of aircraft. Feinstein included in the Senate's proposed transportation bill language that would direct the FAA to explore measures, such as adjusting helicopter routes. The bill also would require the agency to draw up rules to address the noise unless it can show that voluntary efforts are working. But if Congress fails to pass a separate transportation bill, her effort will probably stall. The House transportation funding bill, meanwhile, includes a Republican-drafted amendment that the California High-Speed Rail Authority said would effectively kill the $68-billion project. The measure would require the federal Surface Transportation Board to consider the project in its entirety rather than in segments. Dan Richard, the authority's chairman, said in a recent interview that although the authority is prepared to seek the approval of the board for segments of the rail project, the amendment is "very clearly constructed with one purpose: to stop the high-speed rail project in its entirety. Period. Richard said the authority, which has received about $3.3 billion in federal funding, had no plans to seek additional federal dollars for next year. But he said a separate provision of the bill that would prohibit federal funding next year for the rail line would hurt the authority's ability to raise private funds for the project. "This is the wrong time to be saying, 'We want to send a message to everybody that we don't support high-speed rail,'" he said. If that stayed in there, it would simply slow our efforts to expand the funding base to include the private sector.