MTA sends Dem leaders a wish list to mend Trump’s damages

Metropolitan Transit Association leaders are “celebrating the ‘blue tsunami’” that overtook the country last week, Ethan Stark-Miller writes for AMNY. On Nov. 5, leaders sent federal lawmakers a wish list of ways the Democrat-led Congress could mend the damage that MTA officials say the Republican-led Congress dealt to NYC's public transit. 

“[Wish list items] include extending a federal transportation formula funding bill with advance appropriations included; exempting purchases of new train and bus components from tariffs on foreign imports; increasing transit security funding; and opposing how the Trump administration has rewritten federal rules to punish New York transit projects,” AMNY reports. 

The MTA also pushed for Congress to approve another short-term extension to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which funds infrastructure projects and expired in October. Congress extended the funding but cut advanced appropriations, “funding for future fiscal years that does not need future Congressional approval,” which the MTA says are essential, AMNY reports. The MTA urged Congressional leaders to include these advanced appropriations in their next extension.