Reconnecting America Joins Transit And Elected Officials To Oppose House Transit Financing Changes
February 2, 2012
Dear Chairman Camp and Ranking Member Levin:
On behalf of the nation’s local elected officials and public transportation leaders, we are writing to express our strong opposition to H.R. 3864, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Financing Act of 2012, which includes a provision that would jeopardize the future of public transportation. Specifically, the proposal to redirect federal gas tax revenues away from public transportation would undermine years of investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure and could prevent local governments and transportation providers from entering into multi-year construction contracts, jeopardizing jobs that are urgently needed.
America is home to 7,700 public transportation systems, which range from three-van systems serving isolated seniors in rural communities to large urban systems serving millions of passengers each day. Taken together, these systems provide 400,000 direct jobs for American workers. Public transportation takes people from all walks of life to work, to health care, to shops, and to school. In fact, Americans take more than 10 billion trips on transit every year.
Since Ronald Reagan signed the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, the federal government has followed a balanced approach to surface transportation funding, providing multi-year dedicated funding from the gasoline tax to both highway and transit projects. This funding stream allows local units of government to enter into long-term construction contracts that employ thousands of people to build critical infrastructure projects. If the gas tax is redirected away from public transportation, these jobs will be put in jeopardy.
Collectively, we represent the interests of almost every municipality or county government in the United States. For the economic health of our communities, we strongly urge you not to divert gas tax revenues away from public transportation.
