IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1258 
Declaring that public transit is a national priority which requires funding 
equal to the level of highway funding. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 10, 2020 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CAR-
SON of Indiana, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. PAYNE, 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. NADLER, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
PETERS, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BEYER, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. 
SUOZZI, Mr. SIRES, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. 
BROWN of Maryland, Mr. COHEN, Mr. RUSH, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. DANNY 
K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. POCAN) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure 
RESOLUTION 
Declaring that public transit is a national priority which 
requires funding equal to the level of highway funding. 
Whereas public transit is an essential service for communities 
across the country; 
Whereas 2,800,000 essential workers rely on public transit to 
travel to and from work; 
Whereas, according to the American Public Transportation 
Association, 60 percent of public transit riders are people 
of color; 
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•HRES 1258 IH 
Whereas any strategy to meaningfully reduce emissions from 
transportation relies on public transit; 
Whereas American companies, large and small, prefer loca-
tions in public transit-connected communities to attract 
and retain workers and customers; 
Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assess-
ment report found that human activity is the dominant 
cause of observed climate change over the past century, 
and a changing climate is causing sea levels to rise and 
increasing wildfires, severe storms, droughts, and other 
extreme weather events that threaten human life, healthy 
communities, and critical infrastructure; 
Whereas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 
transportation is the leading sector of greenhouse gas 
emissions in the United States, and such emissions are 
rising while emissions in other sectors are decreasing; 
Whereas safe, reliable, and convenient public transit is an es-
sential tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the 
transportation sector; 
Whereas Americans of color, long underserved by transpor-
tation decisions since establishment of the Federal high-
way program, are disproportionately reliant on public 
transit to provide access to jobs and essential services 
such as grocery stores, education, and health care; 
Whereas people with low incomes are also disproportionately 
reliant on public transit and, when public transportation 
is not safe, reliable, or convenient, may be cut off from 
opportunities; 
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•HRES 1258 IH 
Whereas the Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimates 
that the average annual cost to own and operate a vehicle 
is $9,282; 
Whereas, according to data from the American Community 
Survey, over 1,000,000 rural households do not have ac-
cess to a car and are reliant on public transit to access 
jobs and essential services; 
Whereas there are 292 counties where at least 10 percent of 
households do not have access to a car and 56 percent 
of such households are in rural areas; 
Whereas local and regional economies rely on the efficient 
movement of people to jobs and services and public tran-
sit, an essential connection for millions of Americans, is 
critical to moving people efficiently; 
Whereas data from the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act shows that investments in public transit produced 70 
percent more job hours than investments in highways, 
with preventive maintenance, rail car and bus purchase 
and rehabilitation and infrastructure, as the leading cat-
egories of job-creating public transit investments; 
Whereas research shows that a 10-percent increase in public 
transit seats per capita results in wage increases ‘‘be-
tween $1,500,000 and $1,800,000,000 per metropolitan 
area’’, depending on the size of the region. 
Whereas companies of all sizes are relocating to walkable and 
public transit-connected areas to ensure access to a high- 
quality workforce because such places— 
(1) are where workers want to be; and 
(2) reinforce companies’ brand aspirations, bring 
them in close proximity to their customers and partners, 
support creativity among their employees, and help such 
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•HRES 1258 IH 
companies live up to high standards of corporate respon-
sibility; 
Whereas even in smaller communities, research shows that 
public transit helps business by improving employee re-
tention; 
Whereas travel by public transit is substantially safer than 
travel by car, with data showing that rail transit is about 
30 times safer and travel by bus is about 60 times safer; 
Whereas the fatality rate associated with using public transit 
is half that associated with driving; 
Whereas public transit trips begin and end with biking or 
walking, it is critical to improve safe bicycle and pedes-
trian access to transit stops to improve access to and use 
of public transit, particularly for people with lower in-
comes; 
Whereas in addition to producing fewer greenhouse gas emis-
sions, public transit also releases fewer emissions linked 
to asthma and encourages active travel which improves 
public health; 
Whereas a 2013 report studied the impact of a 35-day public 
transit strike in Los Angeles, finding that the average 
delay across all major freeways in the region increased 47 
percent during the strike, with delays increasing up to 
123 percent for freeways that ran parallel to public tran-
sit lines hampered by the strike demonstrates that public 
transit contributes to congestion reduction for motorists 
by providing another option for travelers and helps take 
cars off the road; 
Whereas public transit is popular, a March 2020 poll found 
that— 
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•HRES 1258 IH 
(1) Americans support expanding public transit by a 
77–15 margin—even as many public transit agencies face 
a growing generational funding crisis brought on by 
COVID–19; 
(2) among individuals that reported that a car was 
their primary mode of transportation, about 80 percent 
agreed that they have ‘‘no choice’’ but to drive as much 
as they do; and 
(3) just over half of car users report wishing they 
had more options; 
Whereas Americans pay a premium for housing in commu-
nities accessible to public transit, a phenomenon the Na-
tional Association of Realtors called ‘‘the public transit 
effect’’; 
Whereas Americans should not have to pay a premium to be 
near public transit, but have no choice due to persistent 
under funding and disinvestment in public transit, result-
ing in few communities that are well served by such tran-
sit; 
Whereas, according to a 2016 study, 13 of some of the Na-
tion’s largest cities (comprising 12,200,000 people) offer 
infrequent and unreliable service; 
Whereas the Federal Transit Administration has found the 
public 
transit 
maintenance 
backlog 
to 
be 
$98,000,000,000, an amount which the Department of 
Transportation estimates would require transit agencies 
to increase spending by $7,000,000,000 per year to elimi-
nate the backlog over a 20-year period; 
Whereas Federal transportation programs were developed in 
the 1950s to build out the interstate highway system, a 
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