March 21, 2007
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Dear Representative:
On behalf of the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) more than 1,500 member organizations, I write to seek your support for the $225 million for transit, passenger and freight rail security efforts in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Emergency Wartime Supplemental when the legislation is considered on the House floor.
Since September 11, 2001, transit agencies have spent significant amounts of their own resources for transit security with very little federal assistance. Americans use public transportation for more than 10 billion trips each year. People use public transportation 34 million times each weekday, and we believe the federal government can and should do more to protect those citizens against terrorist acts.
Terrorist attacks on transit systems in Mumbai, London, Madrid, as well as in other cities, highlight the need for the federal government to improve security in areas such as communication, surveillance, detection systems, personnel, and training. While an APTA survey has identified $6 billion in transit security needs, Congress has allocated only $549 million to transit security through FY 2007. For FY 2007, $175 million has already been appropriated for the security needs of transit, passenger and freight rail, and this bill would increase that total to $400 million.
We urge you to support the inclusion of this important funding for transit security in the FY 2007 Emergency Wartime Supplemental. If you have any questions about these issues, please have your staff contact Tom Yedinak of APTA's Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4865 or email tyedinak@apta.com.
Sincerely yours,
William W. Millar
President
WWM/tjj
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