Sherwood Boehlert: “once again I want to voice the strong opinions of the fair coalition in my home State of New York that we preserve the…”

“once again I want to voice the strong opinions of the fair coalition in my home State of New York that we preserve the highway equity established in TEA 21. Transportation is one of the only programs where my State gets back from the Federal Government more than it contributes in taxes. Every year New York sends $20 billion more to Washington than it receives back in various Federal assistance programs. That is a fact. In this bill we have to strive to be fair. What is fair is that we preserve a needs-based highway and transit program and create a stronger integrated national transportation system. New York's highways and transit infrastructure serve the entire Nation through its roads and its ports and its rail facilities and its airports. However, our infrastructure is aging, and much of it needs to be repaired or replaced. With 33 percent of the Nation's transit riders, New York receives only 14 percent of the total transit funding. We simply cannot afford any changes to a formula that would give us even less. We have Federal support capped at 10 percent for our bridges; yet we have 20 percent of the identified national need. As a result, the most critical feature of the bill is that we make no immediate changes to the current minimum guarantee of 90.5 percent. If the overall level of funding does not remain at its current level, it would be unfair to New York and many other States.”