[UPDATED] U.S. Reps Preparing Amendment To Restore Dedicated Mass Transit Funding

A bipartisan group of Congressmen, including several local pols, are preparing an amendment that would restore dedicated mass transit funding to the House’s surface transportation funding bill.

Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Steve Latourette (R-Ohio), Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), Robert Turner (R-N.Y.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) are preparing to introduce the amendment this week, according to a legislative update from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), writes website Progressive Railroading.

In its current form, the proposed bill – also known as the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act – would eliminate the so-called Mass Transit Account, a portion that had been in place for 30 years, replacing it with an “Alternative Transportation Account.”

According to a recent press release by Rep. Nadler, the provision the reps are railing against, and which the House Ways and Means Committee voted for last week,  “would eliminate the guaranteed funding for mass transit (and)… make transit dependent on the politics of annual appropriations, which, if the last year has taught us anything, leads to dysfunction and inaction.”

[UPDATE] 11:50 a.m. Minutes after publishing the above story, Bensonhurst Bean received a press release from Jerrold Nadler’s office announcing that Congressman Nadler has introduced the amendment.