[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11049-11050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1100
                          COMMUTER SAVINGS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Hayworth) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. HAYWORTH. As a frequent rider and former commuter on New York's 
mass transit system, I know how important public transportation is.
  Alone, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, 
transports more than 8.5 million commuters across metropolitan New York 
every day. In the district I'm privileged to serve--New York's 19th 
Congressional District--which includes Westchester, Orange, Rockland, 
Dutchess, and Putnam Counties, the MTA's 31 Metro-North Railroad 
stations serve 11,000 passengers every weekday.
  Our Hudson Valley's mass transit commuters lost part of their recent 
tax credits for employer-provided mass transit benefits as of January 1 
of this year. Commuters utilizing the mass transit portion have seen 
their credits drop from $230 per month to $125 per month, which means 
that their commuting costs have increased. In contrast, commuters 
utilizing the driving and parking benefits have seen an automatic 
increase from $230 per month to $240 per month, which is why I 
introduced the Commuter Savings Act on June 29.
  This legislation would extend parity between the mass transit and 
parking portions of the transportation tax credit, which would increase 
mass transit benefits from $125 per month to $240 per month. Mass 
transit minimizes traffic congestion, reduces fuel consumption, and 
limits the wear and tear on our roads and bridges. It's really a great 
win for all of us even if we don't use mass transit. The Commuter 
Savings Act will directly help more than 70,000 of our Hudson Valley 
neighbors, and the bill is retroactive to January 1 of this year, which 
will provide mass transit commuters with a full 2 years of certainty in 
their mass transit benefits.
  For the tens of thousands of Hudson Valley residents and millions of 
Americans across the country who rely on safe and affordable public 
transportation and for all of us who enjoy the benefits of those fellow 
Americans

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using mass transit, I urge my colleagues to join me and my fellow 
primary cosponsors, Representatives Peter King and Bob Dold, in giving 
our mass transit commuters a break in these tough economic times.

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