Commentary - Washington's Metro but America's resource

Washington, D.C. (Map, News) - As Americans pay their income taxes this week, we often take time to think about what the government does with our money and how our leaders determine which expenses are worthwhile.

As a 7-term Member of the House of Representatives, I have had a hand in directing how billions of taxpayers' hard-earned dollars are spent. I don't take this responsibility lightly, and I have made a point during my time here to be as frugal with the public purse as I know taxpayers want me to be.

My relationship with our Nation's Capital goes back to my first term in Congress, when I chaired the subcommittee with oversight over the District of Columbia's affairs. The work we've done to improve the quality of our federal city has had a significant benefit for the people of this country.

We've brought the city from the brink of default to solid financial ground, dramatically expanded educational opportunities for its residents, provided for its water and sewer needs and helped it from a struggling, impoverished enclave to the vibrant, healthy community it is today.

This is only fitting because Washington, D.C., is where the American people come to lobby their representatives, visit their government and celebrate the history of the greatest experiment in Democracy.

But one thing that stands between Washington D.C. and other world class capitals is the quality of Metro, the capital's 106-mile subway system. The system is 32 years old and beginning to age. Cars and tracks are falling apart. Escalators are failing. Repair expenses are growing. Cost-cutting measures already in effect challenge passengers. It is hard to imagine anything so short-sighted. Would England or France or Belgium or Italy allow this to happen to the transit system that serves their national capitals? No chance.

I have proposed legislation to provide $1.5 billion over 10 years to Metro. The governments of the localities it also serves – Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia – have pledged to match the federal funding dollar-for-dollar because they understand, as I do, that a viable, multimodal transit system is vital to the region – in fact, the nation – for economic, practical and security reasons.

Metro's virtually the sole means by which the nation's capital could be evacuated in case of manmade or natural disaster. And it could be the only means by which federal workers could reach their offices keep the government functioning with another 9/11-type event.

Leaders, from President Eisenhower to now, not only recognized the security benefits, but recognized the benefit of a clean, effective system for use by their constituents who visit the city. And they recognized the unique status of the city – its budget controlled by Congress; much of its tax base consumed by federal property – left it without the resources to construct and maintain such a system.

As such, the federal government always has funded Metro, though often in piecemeal and irregular fashion. This legislation merely codifies the federal financial responsibility, provides, for the first time, for federal oversight of how the system is managed and, also for the first time, brings the dollar-for-dollar match from the governments in the region.

The visit to Washington by Pope Benedict this week will put special strain on transit, security, fire and police – all paid for, in large part, by local taxpayers. But rarely does a week pass in Washington without visits by dignitaries, heads of state and others that tax local agencies and traffic arteries. Not for nothing is it called "America's subway."

The Founding Fathers struck the Great Compromise so we could have our nation's capital in a city where Congress retains ultimate authority. Now, it's time for Congress to stand up to its responsibilities. Will lawmakers follow the example of the founders, such as John Adams and others, who understood how to strike a balance between parochial interests and the national good? Or will they go the penny-wise, pound-foolish route and let this critical national resource fade into oblivion?

Congressman Tom Davis serves the 11th District of Virginia, which encompasses much of the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

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