 The NCTA's November 1962 Transportation in the National Capital Region report included a proposal for an 89-mile (143 km), $ 793 million rail system. The total cost of the proposed highway and rail system was less than the 1959 plan due to the elimination of controversial freeways. The plan was supported by President Kennedy, but opposed by highway advocates in Congress who reduced the rail system to only 23-miles (37 km) within the District of Columbia. However, that proposal was defeated in Congress shortly after President Kennedy's death. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 passed Congress, which promised 66 % federal funding for urban mass transportation projects. Encouraged by the new act, the NCTA recommended the formation of a private entity or a multi-state authority to operate the system using more non-federal funds. On September 8, 1965, President Johnson signed the National Capital Transportation Act of 1965 approving the construction of a 25-mile (40 km) rapid transit system.
