On the recordJuly 17, 2017
I thank my very good friend Representative Jamie Raskin for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I was ranking member of the subcommittee that had jurisdiction over the FAST Act when we received the request from the region--the Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia region--to transfer the authority to appoint directors to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board from the GSA to the Department of Transportation. For the life of me, I can't remember why this authority was given to the GSA in the first place. But it may have been because WMATA was considered simply an agency of interest to the Federal Government. On consideration, under the FAST Act, we agreed that the Department of Transportation was, by far, the more appropriate agency to appoint Federal directors--understand there are local directors--but Federal directors to WMATA. There are also Federal directors to the WMATA board. This is of great interest to the region. I recognize it is not monumental for the Congress, but the region very much needs this joint resolution. All three jurisdictions--the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia--have made their administrative changes, but these changes need to be confirmed by this body. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Comstock for her leadership with this joint resolution, and I ask that the entire body approve it
