Urgent Request: Please Write Your Senator
on Metro Funding!

Sample Letter in Support of Dedicated
Funding for Metro

September __, 2006

Dear _______:

We write, as an employer in the National Capital region, on the subject of the pending Congressional legislation, H.R. 3496 as passed by the House, in support of dedicated funding for our region’s Metrorail and Metrobus system.

We believe that the strongest reasons for this legislation are national reasons. Metro carries millions of the visitors in our Nation’s Capital each year. The system carries hundreds of thousands of federal employees every day to the more than 300 federal agencies that are located near Metrorail and Metrobus. Federal workers are over 40% of subway riders during each rush hour and of all daily riders 10% use stations next to the Capitol and the Pentagon. Metrorail is a major component of the evacuation capability for the Capital and is important in meeting the employee transportation needs created by the Department of Defense’s facilities relocation program.

From a business point of view, we have a ready understanding of the necessity of dedicated funding for Metro. Dedicated funding enhances the ability of a transit system to do long-range planning for maintenance, procurement, and infrastructure renewal and improvements. Dedicated funding supports a higher credit rating for a transit system, which would reduce burdens on both taxpayers and paying passengers. The recent Government Accountability Office report demonstrates that almost all transit systems in the nation have substantial dedicated financial support. From a business point of view also, we endorse the provisions in the legislation that would solidify management improvements at Metro and enhance federal oversight of the system.

The legislation would not spend one dollar of federal funds until the proposed federal funding is matched each year by commitments already enacted or to be enacted by the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

The National Capital Region’s business community also sees support for Metro as vital to continuing the region’s air quality progress, and to reducing congestion on the region’s roads and highways. The congestion reduction benefits provided by dedicated funding would offer advantages to all citizens, whether Metro riders or not.

Finally, be assured that the National Capital Region’s business community is committed to a regionally balanced transportation system, including rail, bus, highways and streets and bikable, walkable communities, benefiting both urban and rural areas, and benefiting all of the major cities in Maryland and Virginia. We have worked and are working with both state legislatures, the District of Columbia Council, and other area governments and business organizations in support of these goals.

We urge your support of prompt Senate consideration and approval of this legislation and stand ready to provide whatever assistance you request as part of the process. We appreciate your leadership on this important issue.

Respectfully submitted,

Advocacy Matters Newsletter

A periodic update on the Board of Trade’s effort to advance policies on behalf of our members, Advocacy Matters, is your one-stop source for government relations information.
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