Periodically, federal rescissions are issued, requiring states to return federal transportation funds to the Federal Highway Administration. Rescissions typically impact unobligated funds, and allow eligible states the option of determining what transportation categories will be affected.
The 2008 and 2009 rescissions required that funds be reduced across all transportation categories instead of states making that determination. This required that rescinded funds had to be equally spread across all transportation categories regardless of state needs, priorities or obligations. For Texas, this reduced "Equity Bonus" funding, which allowed fewer contracts to be awarded.
Rescissions
| FY | Rescission | National $ | Texas $ | Texas % |
| 2006 | TTHUD | $1,999,999,000 | $158,707,654 | 7.94 |
| Defense | $1,143,000,000 | $90,670,526 | 7.93 | |
| Supplemental | $702,362,500 | $55,716,165 | 7.93 | |
| 2007 | Omnibus | $3,471,582,000 | $288,459,698 | 8.31 |
| Supplemental | $871,022,000 | $72,374,710 | 8.31 | |
| 2008 | Omnibus | $3,150,000,000 | $257,989,173 | 8.19 |
| 2009 | Omnibus | $3,150,000,000 | $272,403,085 | 8.65 |
| SAFETEA-LU* | $8,708,000,000 | $742,240,415 | 8.52 | |
| 2010 | HR 1586 | $2,200,000,000 | $190,367,982 | 8.65 |
| Total | $25,395,965,500 | $2,128,929,408 | 8.38 |
* In February 2010, Congress passed HR 2847 “The HIRE Act” which restored contract authority that was repealed on September 30, 2009. While contract authority was restored, Congress did not provide the corresponding obligation authority necessary to fully restore the equity bonus funds that were stripped.
