N.Y. GOPers seek more aid for MTA
A group of 18 New York Republican lawmakers on Thursday urged the GOP’s top man in the Senate to throw some muchneeded coronavirus relief to the MTA.
“As this pandemic subsides, the need for a robust transportation network will only be greater,” GOP lawmakers, including Long Island Rep. Peter King and Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“It would stunt both the New York and national postpandemic recovery to let the agency flounder,” the letter said.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority leaders have called for an additional $3.9 billion in federal relief to stabilize the agency’s finances, which have plummeted the past three months as the pandemic has caused mass transit ridership to fall by roughly 90%.
The MTA in April received $3.8 billion in emergency funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. MTA officials say they need more.
New York’s Democratic Congressional leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have since pushed for additional transit relief.
But it took until this week for the group of Republicans to jump on board.
Meanwhile, transit officials paused all contract negotiations with unionized workers until the federal money comes in.
“Virtually all MTA priorities and operating payments are dependent on Congress delivering significant federal funding in any future relief package,” MTA chief employee relations officer Anita Miller wrote in a memo to transit workers Wednesday. “We urge our union partners to continue to join our call for the federal government to step up and do the right thing.”
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726, which represents Staten Island bus drivers, held a rally on Wednesday demanding the MTA settle their contract, which expired in May 2019.
Members of the United Transit Leadership Organization, which represents managers who oversee the city’s transit operations, have been without a contract since June 2019.