US House Transportation bill would kill federal transit funding!

A key US House Committee is threatening to kill three decades of successful investments in transit by ending the guarantee for dedicated funding for public transportation!

According to our partners at Transportation for America, the House bill (HR 3864) proposed putting every public transportation system in immediate peril and leaving millions of riders already faced with service cuts and fare increases out in the cold.  It proposes eliminating guaranteed funding for the Mass Transit Account and forcing transit to go begging before Congress for general funds each year — all while highway spending continues to be guaranteed with protected funds for half a decade at a time.

“It would reverse all the progress we have made in the past 20 years…horrible.” (League of American Bicyclists)

“This is the worst transportation bill I’ve ever seen during 35 years of public service,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman. "It hollows out the guts of the transportation efforts that we’ve been about for the last three years,” LaHood added. 

“If you were to dream up legislation to maximize America’s addiction to oil, it would look pretty much like this. Make no mistake: this move would cut public transportation out of the federal budget.  (USPIRG) 

Take Action:  Michigan Congressman Dave Camp chairs the committee that will consider this bill Friday morning at 9 a.m. We need your help TODAY to maintain predictable transit funding.  Please call Rep. Camp (202-225-3561 or 231-929-4711) and ask him to restore transit to the Transportation Trust Fund so we can plan strategically for the future of our cities and state. 

Then contact your own congressperson to urge them to fight this too!