The U.S. House approved a measure Wednesday that would authorize $1.5 billion in federal funds for cash-strapped Metro after the Washington area’s congressional delegation attached an amendment to the Amtrak funding bill.
Area representatives have been angling to push a Metro funding bill through Congress but have been blocked in the Senate by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a fiscal conservative who has put holds on dozens of spending bills.
In 2006, the House passed a stand-alone Metro funding bill, authored by Rep. Thomas Davis III, R-Va., but the local delegation was reluctant to resubmit the measure on its own this year because of perceived political challenges.
“We thought this strategy would be better than stand-alone because stand-alone makes it vulnerable,” said Stephanie Lundberg, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who offered the amendment, with Davis and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
The Metro funding amendment passed 295-127, while the Amtrak funding bill passed 311-104.
The Senate in October passed a leaner version of the Amtrak funding bill that did not include the amendment.
House and Senate representatives now will conference to hammer out a common version of the bill.
“Sen. Cardin‘s office is already working with the conferees and expressing the importance of keeping this provision in the final bill,” said Sue Walitsky, a spokeswoman for Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
If the Metro amendment survives the conference, the Senate would have to revote on the new version of the Amtrak bill.
Even if the bill succeeds, both houses would have to pass separate funding bills appropriating the $1.5 billion before Metro would see the money.
The amendment also requires Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia to come up with a combined $1.5 billion in matching funds over 10 years.
While all three jurisdictions have begun gathering the money, Virginia’s funding fell through when the state’s Supreme Court ruled in February that its funding method was unconstitutional.
The Virginia General Assembly is scheduled to revisit the issue in a special legislative starting June 23.
