[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13273-13274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          COMMUTER ACT OF 2008

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIRK. As gas prices rise, an effective way to offer relief is to 
provide incentives for commuter rail. Commuter rail saves America 4 
million gallons of gas a day and saves each individual commuter over 
$1,600 a year.
  Next week, the Speaker will bring up legislation that will offer only 
Federal employees transit benefits. I support expanding the current 
Federal transit program, and believe that all Americans should have the 
opportunity to have this relief at the pumps.
  A month ago, I introduced bipartisan legislation, the Creating 
Opportunities to Motivate Mass-transit Utilization To Encourage 
Ridership, or the COMMUTER Act of 2008.
  Our legislation offers employers a 50 percent tax credit if they 
provide transit benefits to their employees. According to Forbes 
Magazine, the average

[[Page 13274]]

gasoline cost in the 10 worst commuter cities is over $6 a day. Should 
businesses take advantage of this, we would lower our gas bills, but it 
should be offered to more than people with a Federal job.

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