Lynn C. Woolsey: “Our Nation's transportation infrastructure is in terrible, terrible disrepair. More than ever, we need to be pumping…”

“Our Nation's transportation infrastructure is in terrible, terrible disrepair. More than ever, we need to be pumping resources into transportation projects and into initiatives for that end. We need to upgrade and modernize our roads and highways, but we also need to build up mass transit systems, buses, rail lines, et cetera. Doing so improves lives in our communities, allowing people to move around more freely and easily, and it also creates jobs. And by reducing our dependency on automobile travel, this transportation is clean, energy-efficient, and environmentally sensitive, as well. Luckily, we have a Federal agency, the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, that exists to make exactly these investments. I'm proud to say that my home district has benefited from FTA grants to the tune of $11 million over the last year. A new commuter train, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, or SMART train, that connects the major cities in my district is just one of the local projects that is putting FTA money to good use. So, at a moment when our transportation needs are so great across the country, wouldn't it make sense to increase the FTA budget? Except that the House, expressing the priorities of its Republican majority, recently passed a fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill that cut $181 million from current FTA spending levels.…”