Although the transportation spending plan approved yesterday by the Senate Appropriations Committee doesn't provide money directly to high-speed rail, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he's not sweating another setback to one of the administration's flagship infrastructure programs.

The $53.4 billion fiscal 2013 spending bill for transportation, housing and urban development rescinds nearly $2 million from the high-speed rail program, a small amount of the nearly $10 billion the Obama administration has already distributed. The measure also rescinds $4.4 million from the Northeast Corridor improvement program.

But the spending measure does provide $100 million for a passenger-rail investment grant program.

LaHood, speaking Wednesday after the transportation subcommittee approved the bill that eventually passed, said he was not concerned about the lack of high-speed rail dollars in the package.

"What I've read and heard about the bill, I like it very much," LaHood said, adding he was pleased by the $100 million grant pool for passenger rail.

"That's $100 million more than last year," he said.

The administration had requested $2.7 billion in fiscal 2013 and $47 billion over six years for high-speed rail grants. The White House proposal also included a $50 billion upfront infrastructure investment, with $4 billion for intercity rail.

According to an Appropriations Committee aide, the $100 million program "can be used for upgrading existing services to higher speeds, but it is not intended to be used to create new high-speed rail corridors."

Last year, the Senate approved $100 million in high-speed rail funding at the request of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), although it was nixed in a conference with the House. Rail funding was also slashed in a fiscal 2011 budget deal.

The House is unlikely to approve high-speed rail money. Republicans who control the chamber have been skeptical of the program in the past and have sought to cut funding in several budget deals with the Senate.

Several states are already using nearly $10 billion in rail grants -- notably California, which has collected $3 billion in federal funds for a Los Angeles-San Francisco line. The administration also set aside $100 million of its TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) livability grant program for high-speed rail this year to make up for lost money, a pool that DOT said was heavily oversubscribed.

Senate appropriators approved another $500 million for the TIGER program in 2013, a move that LaHood praised.