[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 211 (Tuesday, December 7, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





    INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TRANSPORTATION FUNDING 
                              EQUALITY ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 7, 2021

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the District of 
Columbia Transportation Funding Equality Act. This bill would make the 
District of Columbia eligible for two federal programs that support the 
development and revitalization of public transportation systems in the 
same manner that states are currently eligible for these programs. D.C. 
residents pay the same federal taxes as residents of the states, and 
D.C. should be treated as a state in federal programs.
  First, the bill would treat D.C. as a state in the High-Density 
States Formula for certain grants from the Mass Transit Account of the 
Highway Trust Fund. Currently, only states are eligible for these 
grants. Second, the bill would treat D.C. as a state under the Grants 
for Buses and Bus Facilities program. Currently, each state is 
authorized to receive $1.75 million annually and each of D.C. and the 
territories are authorized to receive $500,000 annually.
  The programs in the bill fund the modernization of bus and rail 
fleets, the purchase of zero-emission transit vehicles, the improvement 
of station accessibility for all users and the extension of transit 
service to new communities. They especially benefit communities of 
color, since these households are twice as likely to use public 
transportation.
  The House-passed surface transportation reauthorization act, the 
INVEST in America Act, would have made D.C. eligible for these two 
programs in the same manner as states. Unfortunately, the enacted 
surface transportation reauthorization act, the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act, which the Senate wrote, did not.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill to provide funding for 
effective, efficient and sustainable transportation options for D.C. in 
same manner as states.

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