Texas Transit Association

Statement of the American Public Transportation Association

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 29, 2003 — We were pleased that President Bush highlighted the importance of creating jobs and growing the economy in his State of the Union speech. We are disappointed, however, that he did not mention investing in surface transportation as one of his initiatives to stimulate our economy. The President’s support for increased investment in public transportation needs to be a national priority if America hopes to jumpstart the economy.

Public transportation is a vital element of our economic strength. It generates $6 or more in economic activity for every dollar invested, creates tens of thousands of jobs, and revitalizes communities across the country.

In regards to energy independence, increasing investment and use in public transportation is another vehicle to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and make our air significantly cleaner. For every passenger mile traveled, public transportation uses one half of the fuel consumed by cars.

We urge the President to increase transportation funding, especially for public transportation, in his proposed FY 2004 Budget and to make expansion of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21) one of the top goals for his Administration.

Federal Transportation Appropriations: This past week Congress passed another continuing resolution to fund federal programs until February 7.

Texas House and Senate Committees can be downloaded in MSWord here.

Download: HouseSenateCommittees78th.doc (61 KB).

The United States Senate acted on the 2003 transportation appropriations bill on Thursday evening, January 23. The bill included funding cuts across-the-board of about 2.9 percent, but that it only affects the General Fund portion of federal transit funding, or $42 million. Included was a reduction in the Job Access and Reverse Commute program from its guaranteed amount of $150 million to $125 million. Funding for the New Starts program would increase by $25 million above its guaranteed level. The bill includes $31.8 billion for the highway program, the FY 2002 level, and $1.2 billion for Amtrak, the amount requested by Amtrak The Senate Appropriations Committee Chair has said that he expects the across-the-board cut to be around one percent after the Senate hammers out a compromise bill with the House. It is not clear whether the two Houses will be able to develop a conference bill before January 31, when the current continuing resolution expires. [Source: APTA]

With “Donor” and “Donee” transportation funding issues cropping up again in the context of the coming federal transportation reauthorization, this article from the San Antonio #Express-New written by Bill Barker, illustrates Texas’ own in-state issue of a similar nature regarding motor fuels taxes and the funding of roadway projects in and out of metropolitan areas.

Download: GasTaxDonors.doc (258.5 KB).