public transit infrastructure cuts.
The bipartisan Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act 2020 reduces public transportation funding by $457 million compared to fiscal year 2019. The coalition urged the Senate to increase the funding and to permanently block the impending 12 percent across-the-board cut to every public transit agency in the country
“Americans ride public transportation 10 billion times a year, and every trip meets a need or provides an opportunity,” the letter said. “It gets people to work, their doctors, local businesses, and schools. It is a lifeline that connects communities. We urge you to support increased investment in public transportation for critical projects in small, medium, and large communities across the nation.”
Increasing investment will provide the resources necessary to meet the mobility demands of growing communities and to address the more than $90 billion state-of-good-repair backlog in transit systems nationwide.
The government should invest more, not less, the letter said.
The letter was sent to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chairwoman of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies and Jack Reed (D-RI), the committee’s ranking member.