[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 30 (Tuesday, March 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H849-H850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IMPROVING THE COMMUTE TO WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Blumenauer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, throughout the Capitol this week, we are 
being visited by men and women who are the leaders of our transit 
agencies around the country. I hope that as they are visiting with us 
today dealing with the things that make a difference to Americans, that 
we in Congress will be particularly aware of two pieces of legislation 
that they are seeking our assistance for that will make a difference 
for American families.
  After all, notwithstanding a lot of what passes for topical political 
rhetoric in our Capitol, really what American families care about most 
is they

[[Page H850]]

want to be safe, they want their families economically secure, they 
want them healthy. I am here today to argue on behalf of two of these 
bills that will do that in terms of having a more balanced 
transportation system.
  One, House Resolution 37, would give congressional employees here in 
the District of Columbia and in our district offices the opportunity to 
contribute to the livability of their communities by using transit. As 
local elected officials we have had the opportunity of implementing 
such programs in our community, and we found that transit passes made a 
great deal of difference. They improved morale of our employees, they 
decreased the demand for parking, they helped clean the air, they 
decreased congestion, and they actually ended up saving our employees 
money.
  Sadly, the House of Representatives is behind the curve in offering 
transit benefits. Since 1984, private sector employers have offered 
their employees transit benefits for their commute to work. Even our 
colleagues in the U.S. Senate have successfully operated a transit pass 
program since 1992. Today over 2,000 employees of the Congressional 
Budget Office, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Senate participate 
in an employer-sponsored transit pass program. With the passage of the 
Federal Employees Clean Air Incentives Act of 1993, the House is 
authorized to offer its employees the same incentive.
  Unfortunately, we have yet to do so. This is a bipartisan resolution, 
already with over 3 dozen cosponsors, that would give House offices the 
option to underwrite part of the cost of monthly passes for our 
employees. No additional revenue is needed to approve the program, 
since our employee transit passes would be funded out of existing 
transit office budgets.
  The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, WMATA, is 
extremely supportive of this legislation, and is ready to help the 
House implement the transit benefit program here in the D.C. metro area 
as soon as we are willing to work with them.
  Additionally, we are hearing from our transit friends about another 
important piece of legislation. This is the Commuter Choice Act, H.R. 
873, that is primarily sponsored by our colleague, the gentleman from 
Georgia [Mr. Lewis].
  Most of us understand that the overwhelming reliance on single-
occupant vehicles is responsible for unsafe air, unsafe streets, and 
gridlock that is increasingly paralyzing our communities. Yet, sadly, 
our tax policy encourages commuting by car over any other means of 
transportation. It is not enough that in America we spend more 
advertising the automobile than supporting transit. We have a tax 
system that discriminates against people who would like to do the right 
thing and not use their private automobile.
  Employers can currently provide free parking up to $170 a month tax-
free, but a transit pass or car pool benefits are allowed for only one-
third of that value. The Commuter Choice Act would eliminate this 
imbalance, and encourage energy savings without penalizing drivers.
  It would increase the nontaxable transit pass benefit to the same 
$170 per month as the tax-free parking benefit.

                              {time}  1800

  In addition, this bill will take away the disincentive for people who 
choose alternative transportation modes. Right now, if an employer 
decides that they are going to give $25 a month as an incentive for 
people to walk, run, or bike to work, that will make the other benefits 
that they provide potentially taxable, including tax-free parking.
  This bill would provide the opportunity for a stipend of $15 to $50 
per month. This cash benefit would support employees who choose to 
walk, bike, run, rollerblade to work. We have had opportunities in the 
State of California, where this has been implemented by some employers.
  I urge my colleagues to support these two bills.

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