(Bloomberg News circulated the following story by Chris Dolmetsch on February 2, 2009.)
NEW YORK — New York Senator Charles Schumer is pushing to add another $6.5 billion for mass transit to the $819 billion U.S. economic stimulus package, calling buses, subways and trains the “lifeblood” of the nation’s biggest city.
The Democrat’s amendment to the bill would increase funding to $14.9 billion from $8.4 billion, including $2 billion for capital transportation needs, $2 billion for railways and $2.5 billion for new transit projects.
The extra funding may mean hundreds of millions dollars more for New York City transportation, Schumer said. The region typically gets about a fifth or more of federal transportation spending, he said.
“We want to make sure that this stimulus plan helps mass transit as well as highways,” Schumer said in a press conference outside Grand Central Terminal today. “We all know how important it is to help mass transit; it’s the lifeblood of our metropolitan area.”
Last month, Elliot Sander, executive director of the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the New York City transit system and the Long Island and Metro-North commuter railroads, said the authority expected to get at least $1.5 billion from the package.
The additional funds could go to help maintain the city’s aging transit network and fund expansion projects such as the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, which would bring LIRR trains into Grand Central, Schumer said.
Budget Deficit
The money would be devoted to capital spending and couldn’t be used to prevent a 23 percent fare and toll increase proposed by the authority to help fill a budget deficit projected to reach $1.2 billion this year, Schumer said. The senator said he would support using city and state funding from the stimulus package to stop the fare boost.
The authority said in June it was delaying about $2.7 billion in capital projects because of rising construction costs and falling tax revenue. In December it proposed its second fare and toll increase in two years to help fill the budget deficit.
The state Legislature is considering a plan recommended by a commission headed by former authority Chairman Richard Ravitch to fill the budget gap and keep the fare increase to 8 percent by imposing tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges and creating a corporate payroll tax.
The House passed the stimulus package on Jan. 28 by a vote of 244-188, sending it to the Senate where Republicans, who want more tax cuts and less spending, will have more power to demand changes. The Senate is debating its version this week.
House Funding Increase
New York Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat who joined Schumer at today’s press conference, worked to increase mass-transit funding in the House bill by $3 billion, bringing it to $12 billion.
The House legislation passed without a single Republican vote. Senate Democrats are making a “major effort” to reach out to the other party, and will need at least two Republican votes to pass the Senate package, Schumer said.