Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start by congratulating Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica and the Transportation Committee for all the work they’ve done in bringing this very important piece of legislation to the Floor.
And to my colleague, Mr. Davis from Virginia, for his leadership on this issue of the WMATA system, the Washington Metro system. I am pleased to join with him and others on a bipartisan basis from the Washington region to offer this amendment.
I think we all know that the federal government relies heavily on the Metro system to bring thousands and thousands of federal employees to work each day in our national security agencies, Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies throughout this region that help provide essential services to the American people.
It’s also a critical part of any evacuation plan in the event of a national emergency that would require the evacuation of the Capitol.
That’s one of the reasons the federal government has made large investments in WMATA construction in the past and its maintenance. And that is why it is important that we continue to have a federal role.
And what the purpose of this amendment is is to protect that federal investment. Because right now the federal government’s at the whim of local jurisdictions as to whether or not they’re going to make their payments into this system as part of a partnership. What this does, it says, “Yes, the federal government will provide – authorizes – up to 150 million a year in matching funds.” Those funds may only be released when WMATA certifies and notifies the Department of Transportation that local jurisdictions have established a reliable and dedicated source of funding to do their share of the funds and partnership here.
It also increases accountability to protect that federal investment by creating an Inspector General to oversee WMATA’s finances and adds four new federally-appointed Directors to WMATA – this is to protect the federal investment that’s been made and make sure the interest of the people in this area, consumers as well as the federal interest, is protected
This has passed this House – I want to stress – this Davis provision has passed the House in the past in 2006. We passed it, it’s been sitting over in the Senate. I just urge all our colleagues to come together in 2008 and do what we did in 2006 and adopt this important provision.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.