After the disappointment of learning that only 1.2% of the stimulus bill would be dedicated to public transportation, I reached out a policy analyst at Building America's Future, a coalition led by Governor's Ed Rendell and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Mike Bloomberg that is lobbying members of Congress to increase funding for our nation's infrastructure improvements.
Here is his response:
"Yesterday could have been worse. Initially the transit number was at $9 billion, but an amendment sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler to add $3 billion was passed yesterday with the final bill, so the stimulus package included $12 billion. A small but much appreciated victory for public transportation! "
NY Rep Jerrold Nadler's amendment was, in my opinion, the most significant of the few amendments that were actually approved, as it added $3 billion to the original $9 billion appropriated to public transportation. I feel a little better now.
5 comments:
Hey - Glad to see that you made it to DC. I was there, too. I had Blue Tickets and my friend and I waited for 3 hours to get in. It was a special experience.
Go Pittsburgh! Go Steelers!
~Cats
Who should I write? Let me know the email addresses if you can and I'll write them tonight!
Do you live in PA? If you do please email both Senators Specter and Casey and tell them we need more of the stimulus package to go towards public transportation projects. Their contact information can be found by following the URL at the end of the last post.
Bump:
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=307593
I wrote them both!
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