[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S220-S221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD:
  S. 176. A bill to improve the job access and reverse commute program, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I reintroduce a piece of my E4 
initiative, so named because it is a collection of proposals that 
address issues important to the economy, education, employment and 
energy. This piece of the E4 legislation focuses on the important 
supporting role that transportation can play in economic development by 
creating an environment where employers and those seeking employment or 
better employment are connected together. Having such a system to 
overcome transportation hurdles can benefit both employers and 
employees, as well as the local economy and is all the more important 
in these difficult economic times.
  In more general terms, investing in our infrastructure like roads, 
bridges and transit systems can have direct job creation impacts. This 
is one reason I have fought hard with the rest of the delegation for a 
fair rate of return for Wisconsin from the highway bill. It is also why 
in a letter I sent to President-elect Obama and Senate leaders I 
included highway and transit projects as part of a variety of ready-to-
go infrastructure projects that should be included in the forthcoming 
economic recovery program.
  In addition to supporting transportation-related jobs, linking 
workers and businesses that need them can also be an important part of 
a more comprehensive job creation strategy. This can mean supporting a 
robust public transportation system or more specific programs designed 
to link low-income individuals with jobs. I have consistently done the 
former by supporting

[[Page S221]]

public transportation during consideration of the highway bill and 
Amtrak reauthorizations. But my specific proposal today focuses on the 
latter and improving the Job Access and Reverse Commute, JARC, program 
that links low-income workers with employers.
  I have heard good things about the JARC program and was glad that it 
was shifted away from earmarks and was made available as a combination 
formula and competitively awarded program in the last highway bill. The 
primary program goal is to locally assess the transportation needs of 
low-income workers and then plan and fund programs to help alleviate 
transportation-related barriers to employment or better employment. 
While initially this may have been viewed as a way to support reverse 
commute projects whereby transit routes were established to allow city 
center residents to access jobs in the suburbs, the program actually 
does much more than just this and provides reliable transportation to 
low-income urban, rural and suburban workers.
  In Wisconsin, the Federal JARC program is jointly administered by the 
State departments of transportation and workforce development as the 
Wisconsin Employment Transportation Assistance Program, WETAP. 
According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, transportation 
barriers can include a lack of a dependable vehicle or bus service in 
the area, an absence of local jobs, or childcare transportation 
problems. The State agencies in Wisconsin have found several different 
types of projects to be effective depending on the local circumstances. 
These projects have included the traditional public transit projects 
such as extending bus lines or supporting van-pooling, along with other 
programs such as providing cars or car repairs to low-income 
individuals. Wisconsin has even found that assisting with indirect 
barriers such as transportation of children to and from childcare 
facilities is critical in allowing some individuals to improve their 
job prospects.
  A recent University of Illinois Chicago, UIC, study found that the 
societal benefits from this program are $1.65 per dollar spent and 
estimates lifetime benefits to low income participants of $15 per 
dollar spent due to their ability to find and retain better paying 
jobs. While the goals of the Job Access and Reverse Commute program are 
important and the program has been found to be fairly effective, there 
are some details that have prevented the program from reaching its full 
potential. Working closely with transportation officials in Wisconsin 
and partially based on recommendations from the UIC study, I've come up 
with some specific ideas to improve the program.
  With a proven effective program and continuing unmet needs by 
employers and low-income individuals seeking employment, JARC could use 
a boost in funding. So that is why my proposal ramps up funding by $100 
million over 5 years from the current funding of $165 million to $265 
million in fiscal year 2014.
  My proposal would also allow the Federal share of projects to 
increase to 80 percent from the current 50 percent level for operating 
expenses. The 50 percent local and State match wasn't feasible for far 
too many local governments in Wisconsin and as a result Wisconsin has 
not been able to spend all its Federal funds. The higher Federal cost 
share will better balance the need to leverage Federal funds, while 
ensuring that these critical funds are fully utilized--millions of 
dollars in an account does nothing to link people to jobs.
  Besides the challenge in coming up with a 50 percent local cost 
share, the other main issue that has kept JARC from being as effective 
as it could be is the paperwork and reporting burden required by the 
program, especially for the small nonprofit groups that often have 
never dealt with Federal grant requirements before. My proposal directs 
the Federal Transit Agency, FTA, to examine the current reporting 
requirements to see if there are ways to streamline the amount of 
paperwork required while still ensuring that the program goals are met.
  My bill also includes a pilot program funded at $10 million a year 
for 5 years in order to test a few areas that seem very promising, but 
should be evaluated more fully before broader implementation. The first 
portion of the pilot program builds off the regulatory streamlining 
evaluation and allows the FTA to test streamlined reporting 
requirements to help get the balance between oversight and 
administrative burden right.
  The second part of the pilot program focuses on improving education- 
and employment-related transportation for teens and young adults. 
Enabling students and young people to reliably get between their high 
schools or neighborhoods and technical colleges, job training centers 
or apprenticeships can have a lifelong positive impact.
  The third section of the pilot program would allow experimentation 
with combining different transit programs and integrating JARC projects 
across local political boundaries to provide a more comprehensive local 
transportation system. Instead of having one transit program to assist 
the disabled, one targeted toward the elderly and another focused on 
jobs, this pilot program would encourage funding combined applications 
to meet these needs together with one comprehensive project. There is 
even the potential for the Department of Transportation to further 
coordinate with other departments such as Health and Human Services for 
healthcare-related transportation. Similarly, the needs of employers 
for employees do not recognize local political boundaries, so 
encouraging greater collaboration between local entities to make a more 
robust interconnected system should ultimately provide more efficient 
and effective service.
  While the FTA already provides some technical assistance for the JARC 
program, my proposal provides a small boost in funding and some 
additional areas of emphasis. For example, after hearing about the 
struggles that some small nonprofits have with the reporting 
requirements, in addition to looking for ways to streamline the 
requirements, my proposal would direct the FTA to also provide some 
technical assistance especially targeted to this need.
  The final element of my proposal is the offset. The new spending 
authorized in the proposal is fully offset by rescinding highway and 
bridge earmarks that have not had funds spent from them despite being 
authorized over a decade ago as part of the TEA-21 highway bill. 
Helping connect workers and employers is a much better use of these 
funds than letting them sit unused in some obscure DOT account.
  Providing reliable transportation to low-income individuals only goes 
so far--it is the companies and innovators creating the jobs and the 
individuals seeking to better their lot through education or more 
challenging employment, that are doing the heavy lifting. That being 
said, transportation can clearly be a challenge for companies and 
workers and in the case of the JARC program can play an important 
supporting role.
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