February 13, 2008
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The Honorable James Nussle
Director
Office of Management and Budget
1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20503
Dear Director Nussle:
On behalf of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and its 1,500 member organizations, I write regarding the Administration’s proposal to provide $175 million for the Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 budget. As you know, Congress appropriated $400 million for the program for FY 2008. These proposed cuts would have a devastating impact on the nation’s public transportation system’s ability to secure their systems and directly undercut Congress’ efforts to provide resources for this purpose.
On August 3, 2007, in recognition of the serious threat that a terrorist attack on public transportation poses to our nation’s citizens, President Bush signed into law H.R.1, the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, which authorized $3.4 billion in federal funding for transit security grants over the next four fiscal years including $750 million for FY 2009. Reducing funding for this program would place tens of millions of transit riders at risk. Our transit agencies are doing their part by committing hundreds of millions of dollars of local funds each year to secure their systems, but local resources can not do the whole job. As bipartisan majorities in Congress have repeatedly made clear, continued federal investment in this effort is crucial. Transit security is national security, a responsibility of the federal government.
Terrorist acts in Mumbai, London and Madrid make clear the need to strengthen security on U.S. public transit systems. We do not need another wakeup call. We must act to prevent an occurrence of such terrorist attacks in this country. For the sake of the millions of Americans who use transit daily, we are disappointed that the Administration has chosen to propose to cut the funding of the Transit Security Grant Program. APTA believes the program should be funded at the authorized level of at least $750 million for Fiscal Year FY 2009.
Sincerely,
William W. Millar
President
WWM/tjj
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