NY Senator Schumer Pushes for Transit Funding in Stimulus Package

As Obama deals with his nominees’ tax problems and members of both the Democratic and Republican parties spar over details of the economic stimulus package, NY Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing to get more mass transit money added to to the Senate version of the bill. Schumer is teaming up with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who succeeded in adding an additional $3 billion for transit into the House stimulus bill.

From Grist:

“In order for our economy to get the boost it so desperately needs from the stimulus package, we have to ensure there is enough funding to upgrade our nation’s transportation infrastructure, particularly mass transit,” said a statement from Schumer’s office on Monday. “We are going to work night and day to make sure this stimuluspackage gives New York’s subways, buses, and rails the boost they need to keep our mass transit system on track.”

Schumer introduced an amendment to the Senate stimulus package that would increase transit funding by $6.5 billion, making for a total of $14.9 billion. Money for transit capital projects would increase from $8.4 billion to $10.4 billion, $2 billion would be added for rail modifications, and another $2.5 billion would be added for the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program.

Unfortunately, many existing transit programs are in dire need of assistance to cover the cost of fuel, maintenance and employee salaries so they can stay up and running – and neither the House nor Senate version of the stimulus package includes operations funding. Some say that keeping existing systems running is more important than building new ones.

Either way, it’s important that mass transit gets some attention. A lot of focus has been on the automobile industry lately, and while it’s really important to move forward with green vehicles, mass transit needs to play a large role in transportation in the U.S. from here on out. We need to keep these programs running, and start more – many areas of America still don’t have reliable public transit.

Link [Grist]
Photo credit: Flickr user PhotoDu.de

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