Norton Tells the Story Behind the Metro Funding Bill - July 18, 2006
Norton Tells the Story Behind the Metro Funding Bill
July 18, 2006
Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that she was grateful to her Democratic colleagues for "saving the bill that will save the Metro system," the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act that "is critical to the operation of the federal government and to the homeland security of the system and of this region." The bill would have failed except for strong support from Democrats because it was placed on the non-controversial calendar and needed a two-thirds vote, a supermajority, gotten by only one vote. Norton developed a leaflet for Democrats that she handed out on the floor indicating the major benefit to federal and Hill workers, the requirement that D.C., Maryland, and Virginia enact dedicated revenue legislation in order to qualify for the funds, and that no funds were authorized in the bill. However, she lost eight Democrats because the Metro funds had been passed last month in a controversial offshore drilling bill, from which the Metro funds will come. Norton was left to hurriedly explain that the controversial source of the funding had already passed and was not a part of this bill. She worked Members on the floor to finally get 158 Democrats, one more than needed, who, with 83 Republicans, yielded the 242-120 vote. "Democrats in particular understood that passing this bill benefits the constituents of every Member of Congress, who are among the 20 million visitors to Washington every year," she said.
The purpose of H.R. 3496, the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act, sponsored by Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA), Congresswoman Norton, and other members of the regional delegation, is to provide federal help for infrastructure and capital costs for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Association (WMATA). Norton said that the District already "has had the good sense to dedicate Metro funding through a 0.5 cent sales tax revenue, but so far Virginia and Maryland are sitting on their hands and their funding." The bill also would require the appointment of an inspector general to oversee spending and add four new federal members to Metro's board of directors.
The Congresswoman, a member of both the Transportation and Infrastructure; and the Homeland Security Committees said, "Without dedicated local and federal funding, the challenges that face the core 103 mile system will overwhelm it with major unacceptable effects on the federal government itself." WMATA requires a minimum of $1.5 billion over the next six years for basic security requirements, equipment, and infrastructure needs, including $601 million for 120 additional rail cars and support facilities; $525 million for recapitalization of existing physical plan (deferrals have begun); $172 million for 185 additional buses and support facilities; and $144 million for security requirements.