June 11, 2007
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The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Chairman
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Senate Committee on Appropriations
135 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Byrd:
I write on behalf of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) more than 1,500 member organizations regarding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations legislation to seek your support for increased funding for transit, passenger and freight rail security grants when the Senate considers such legislation. As we submitted earlier in written testimony, we ask the subcommittee to provide funding in the bill at levels authorized in legislation now moving through Congress but at a level no less than $545 million.
We applaud the decision by the Senate in the first version of the FY 2007 supplemental appropriations bill, H.R.1591, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act, to increase funding for transit security by $625 million. After that bill was vetoed, Congress ultimately included $100 million in additional funding for transit and rail security in the second supplemental appropriations bill that was enacted into law, thereby providing a total of $275 million for FY 2007. We note that the House Appropriations Committee has approved $400 million in funding for transit security in their version of the FY 2008 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill. These funds are needed to address transit security needs throughout the country.
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 and the transit employees who serve them 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. Although an APTA survey has identified $6 billion in transit security needs, only $549 million in federal transit security funding has been allocated so far by the Department of Homeland Security through FY 2007.
We urge you to support this important funding for transit security. 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,
William W. Millar
President
WWM/tjj
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