US: Congressional Democrats set to back more than $50b for transportation sector

Democrats in the US Congress are to release a sweeping plan on Monday to provide more than $50b in additional assistance to US airlines, transit systems, airports and passenger railroad Amtrak and create a $3b program to assist aviation manufacturers with payroll costs, according to documents seen by Reuters and sources briefed on the matter. The $1.9t COVID-19 relief proposal will provide $30b to transit agencies, $14b for passenger airlines, $8b to US airports, $1b for airline contractors and $1.5b to Amtrak, the draft legislation says. US House committees are set to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. President Joe Biden had proposed $20b for struggling US transit agencies - and nothing for airlines - while Democrats had pushed for more transit help, citing the collapse in travel demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. US airlines have been awarded $40b in payroll support since March and airline unions had asked Congress for another $15b to keep thousands of workers on the payroll past March 31, when the current round of funding expires. The additional $14b will keeping nearly 30,000 airline workers on the job through Sept. 30.<br/>