April 19, 2007
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The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Chairman
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Senate Committee on Appropriations
135 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Byrd:
I write on behalf of the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) more than 1,500 member organizations regarding the conference on H.R.1591, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007, to seek your support for the $625 million for transit, passenger and freight rail security grant funding in the Senate-passed legislation. While we also applaud the decision in the House-passed bill to increase funding for transit security by $225 million, we believe that the $625 million increase in the Senate-passed bill would better address transit security needs throughout the country.
Since September 11, 2001, transit agencies have spent significant amounts of their own resources for transit security with very little federal assistance. Americans use public transportation for more than 10 billion trips each year. People use public transportation 34 million times each weekday, and we believe the federal government can and should do more to protect those citizens and the transit employees who serve them against terrorist acts.
Terrorist attacks on transit systems in Mumbai, London, Madrid, as well as in other cities, highlight the need for the federal government to improve security in areas such as communication, surveillance, detection systems, personnel and training. Although an APTA survey has identified $6 billion in transit security needs, only $549 million in federal transit security funding has been provided through Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. For FY 2007, $175 million has already been appropriated for the security needs of transit, passenger and freight rail. Under the Senate version of this bill, transit security funding in FY 2007 would be increased to $800 million.
We urge you to support this important funding for transit security in conference. If you have any questions about these issues, please have your staff contact Tom Yedinak of APTA's Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4865 or email tyedinak@apta.com.
Sincerely,
William W. Millar
President
WWM/tjj
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