| The Honorable Mitch McConnell Republican Leader U.S. Senate S-230, The Capitol Washington, DC 20510 |
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer Democratic Leader U.S. Senate S-221, The Capitol Washington, DC 20510 |
| The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House U.S. House of Representatives H-232, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 |
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Republican Leader U.S. House of Representatives H-204, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 |
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy:
On behalf of America’s public transportation industry, which directly employs more than 435,000 workers and supports millions of private-sector jobs, we urge you to provide significant additional funding for public transportation in the COVID-19 emergency response and economic recovery legislation that you are considering. These funds will help offset the extraordinary direct costs and revenue losses that public transit agencies continue to suffer as a result of the pandemic, and help these agencies continue to avoid layoffs of this critical workforce.
We greatly appreciate your work to enact the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (P.L. 116-136). CARES Act funding provided a critical lifeline to enable our agencies to serve first responders, hospital workers, and grocery store clerks each and every day. Yet, public transit agencies need additional funding to continue to provide these and other essential services throughout the crisis and play their indispensable role in America’s economic recovery from COVID-19.
On May 7, 2020, we wrote to you requesting at least $23.8 billion in COVID-19 Emergency Response and Recovery Funding to help public transit agencies
continue to provide a critical lifeline to essential workers and to help our communities rebuild our economy. Over the past two months, in many states, things have taken a turn for the worse—coronavirus cases are spiking, governors and mayors are renewing stay-at-home orders, and businesses are shutting down. In fact, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority identified additional needs, which would result in a national need of $32 billion to $36 billion.
The House of Representatives recognized this urgent need by providing significant additional COVID-19 funding for public transportation in both H.R. 6800, The Heroes Act, and H.R. 2, the INVEST in America Act.
We urge the final COVID-19 emergency response and recovery legislation to include significant additional funding for public transit. As our nation’s transit agencies work to maintain and restore essential services, federal support is critical to ensure that public transit agencies can reposition themselves to survive and help our communities and nation recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic. These funds are also critical to maintain the manufacturing and supply chain for public transportation agencies and limit the enormous economic damage to these businesses caused by the pandemic.
In addition, as outlined in our May 7, 2020 letter, we urge that 80 percent of this additional funding be distributed through the existing Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Emergency Relief Program and the remainder (20 percent) be distributed through an immediate infusion for FTA formula grants.
Finally, APTA believes that providing the public transportation industry with long-term certainty is critical to our economic recovery and we urge you to enact the Surface Transportation Authorization Act prior to its expiration in September. Now is the time to invest more in our nation’s public transportation infrastructure to support jobs, reconnect Americans, and build the necessary infrastructure network to provide critical public transit services and economic opportunities for all.
We greatly appreciate all of your efforts to help Americans through this national crisis. This emergency response and economic recovery funding for public transportation is critically important as we work to restore these essential services in each of our communities.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Paul P. Skoutelas
President and CEO
cc: The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer, Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable John Thune, Majority Whip, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Steve Scalise, Republican Whip, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Richard J. Durbin, Democratic Whip, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Nita M. Lowey, Chairwoman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Richard C. Shelby, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Peter A. DeFazio, Chair, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Mike Crapo, Chairman, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Roger Wicker, Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Richard Neal, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Chuck Grassley, Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Kay Granger, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Vice Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Sam Graves, Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Kevin Brady, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate
The Honorable David E. Price, Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Susan M. Collins, Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chair, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable David Perdue, Chairman, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Deb Fischer, Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Mario Diaz-Balart, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Jack Reed, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Rodney Davis, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Robert Menendez, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Tammy Duckworth, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
