[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H520-H521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           AN ILLUSORY PLAN TO FUND TRANSIT AT CURRENT LEVELS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Ronald Reagan signed legislation that funded transit out 
of the highway trust fund. The new Republican majority is going to end 
transit's eligibility for highway trust fund dollars--but they've 
created an alternative transportation account that will be paid for out 
of the general fund. The only problem is that paying for transit at 
current levels under an alternative scenario would blow another $40 
billion hole in the budget.
  But they have a plan.
  They're going to require Federal employees to pay 6 percent of their 
salaries into a trust fund. That's about $40 billion over 5 years. But 
they're not taxing Federal employees to pay for transit--don't worry 
about that--because that money can't be spent on transit. It will make 
it look like they're not spending more money. In reality, they will 
borrow $40 billion to

[[Page H521]]

pay for transit instead of paying for it with your fees out of the 
highway trust fund, but they're going to pretend that they didn't add 
more money to the deficit. At the same time, they're going to make 
Federal employees put 6 percent of their salaries into a trust fund for 
this illusory offset.
  Good work, guys.

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