Really crummy way to fund transit: US Congress

RantWoman calls to her readers' attention:

An informational alert prepared by Fifth Freedom

Information courtesy of Transportation for America, Public
Transportation Advocates in Action, Business Week, and the House Ways and
Means Committee

New bill could pull $25 billion from public transportation

This morning (February 3), the House Ways and Means
Committee passed HR 3864, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs
Financing Act of 2012. This bill would make dramatic changes to the way
public transportation is funded, pulling $25 billion in funding.

For three decades, public transportation has been funded
through federal gas taxes, receiving 2.86 cents from every gallon of gas. If this bill passes, it would put an end to this guaranteed funding, meaning transit agencies would lose about $25 billion over the next five years. This $25 billion would instead be appropriated for general highway projects.

Instead of a guaranteed share of gasoline taxes, public
transportation would be funded through the new "Alternative Transportation Account." The bill would start the Account with $40 billion. However, the bill does not currently have any funding mechanism, such as new taxes or cuts to other programs. Without any clear source for the money, the $40 billion is not guaranteed. Also, the $40 billion is one year only. After that, transit funding would be part of the appropriations process. Congress would have to decide how much money to dedicate to public transportation
each year.

Read the full text of the bill here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3864 :

If this issue is important to you, you may wish to contact
your Representative. You can find contact information at
http://fifthfreedom.org/findrep.php  .

Doug Schmidt
Act Team Coordinator
The Fifth Freedom Network
4606-C E. State Blvd., Suite 102
Fort Wayne, IN 46815
act@fifthfreedom.org
http://www.fifthfreedom.org/

Fifth Freedom is a not-for-profit organization that  strives at all times to be non-partisan. The content of this email is provided for information purposes only, and does not express or imply
support for any particular political party, politician, candidate for
office, or piece of legislation.