Government

How good is Congress' word on Metro funding?

by David Alpert   •   February 18, 2009 12:37 pm

If you were selling a house, and had agreed on a price with the buyer, would you decide to simply transfer the house to the buyer before they'd even signed a contract or put down a deposit? If your realtor told you that you have to give the buyer the house, because if not they might decide not to buy, you'd tell the realtor to take a hike and find a new realtor. Some of Maryland's House and Senate members, however, are in essence asking DC, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, and Northern Virginia to do just that with Metro funding and seats on the WMATA Board.

Last year, WMATA's jurisdictions and Congress struck a deal. The federal government would contribute $150 million a year over ten years to Metro's capital and maintenance needs. In exchange, the three jurisdictions would match it, $50 million a year from each of DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Also, the feds would receive two seats on the WMATA Board of Directors.

To implement this change, each of DC, Maryland, and Virginia must amend the WMATA Compact. The federal law authorizing this (all the way at the bottom) says,

No amounts may be provided to the Transit Authority pursuant to the authorization under this section until the Transit Authority notifies the Secretary of Transportation that each of the following amendments to the Compact ... have taken effect:

(1)(A) An amendment requiring that all payments by the local signatory governments ... for the purpose of matching any Federal funds ... are made from amounts derived from dedicated funding sources. ...

(2) An amendment establishing an Office of the Inspector General of the Transit Authority.

(3) An amendment expanding the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority to include 4 additional Directors appointed by the Administrator of General Services, of whom 2 shall be nonvoting and 2 shall be voting, and requiring one of the voting members so appointed to be a regular passenger and customer of the bus or rail service of the Transit Authority.

The DC Council passed a bill first. Written by Councilmember Jim Graham, it amends the compact to include the three items above. It also specifies that, if the federal government does not actually pony up the promised $150 million, then the federal representatives don't get to participate on the Board. If everyone follows through on the deal, everyone gets what was promised. If not, the feds don't get a vote. If you're selling your house and the buyer discovers they can't get a mortgage, you don't still have to give them the house anyway.

The danger comes because the federal bill only "authorizes" funding. It doesn't "appropriate" the funding. Congress could very well never actually pay anything, or pay much less than promised. But meanwhile, local taxpayers would lose influence over Metro operations. The board seats represent some, perhaps small, amount of leverage. Giving seats away without more of a guarantee of funding tosses that leverage away.

Delegate Adam Ebbin of Arlington introduced an identical bill, but then suddenly substituted a different version. That version simply adds federal representatives with no strings attached. (Both texts are here; click on the "HB2596" tab for the original, and the "HB2596H1" tab for the substitute.) According to sources familiar with the process, Maryland's elected officials persuaded Virginia to make the switch. Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, and were involved, but my sources say the primary pressure came from Congressman Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader and representative of College Park, Bowie and Southern Maryland.

Those pushing for a "clean" bill argue, my sources say, that Congress might not follow through if the bill includes any conditions on the federal representation. It turns out that the concept of a deal, where both parties have to follow through or the deal is off, isn't the typical way the House and Senate Appropriations Committees operate. Local leaders have been working for years to build support for this deal, they say; let's not do anything to screw it up. However, if something else screws it up anyway, we've just given up some local autonomy for nothing.

The no-strings substitute bill has passed Virginia's House. Update: and now, the Virginia legislature just substituted back the DC version again. If something does pass at this point, most likely it will add federal representatives unconditionally. the no-strings version passes, we'll have to hold local officials' feet to the fire. If Hoyer, Mikulski, Cardin, Warner, Webb and the rest get the bill they want, they'd better push hard, and fast, to get the full $150 million appropriation for Metro this year, and keep it coming each year for the full ten.