WASHINGTON — Metro and the region’s taxpayers should expect the full $150 million federal contribution to major capital projects for the final two years of a 10-year deal, the area’s only Republican in Congress said — but Metro may need to show sweeping progress to keep funding after that.
“We are working on that [$150 million], and that is part of the agreement and that should be there, and I have every expectation that it will,” Rep. Barbara Comstock said.
Comstock said she has talked with former congressman Tom Davis, whom Metro hired as a lobbyist for federal funding. But to get more long-term federal capital funding designated specifically for Metro, Comstock said, it would take clearer financial accountability.
The $150 million dollars per year promised over 10 years has been a regular political football but has so far always ended up being restored to the budget in the end.
Metro has made small but significant progress recently toward restoring its finances.
Comstock, whose district runs from Mclean through Winchester, is the only Republican in Congress who represents an area with Metro stops.
The Amalgamated Transit Union’s international president this week called her attacks on worker salaries among other things “racist.”
“She is completely ignorant of the facts, and we want to call her out on that,” Larry Hanley told reporters Wednesday.
“I believe that there is a clear overtone to her attack on WMATA workers, and I frankly believe it’s racist.”
“This kind of really nonproductive, partisan attacks from the ATU union just are really not helpful,” Comstock responded.
“I mean, they are now attacking the management, and I can tell you working with my colleagues throughout the region they’ve universally praised Paul Wiedefeld for the new management that he’s brought and some of the reforms and changes he’s made already.”
“I’d like to distinguish my concerns with this union about the management and the leadership as opposed to the members, because I think they are disserving their members,” Comstock added.
Comstock said the union is defending an overtime system that can lead to unsustainable salaries, while also opposing Metro moves to hire more outside contractors.
“That’s kind of going back to the horse-and-buggy days where you can’t get a car if a horse and buggy guy loses his job. We need a modern system where we put more people on the front lines and make this a service-oriented, safe Metro system, and we can’t be tied by the current compact that does not allow the general manager to make the changes that he needs to make to make this be a workable, affordable, accountable system,” Comstock said.
Some of the contractor work has had problems identified by the Federal Transit Administration, as have other projects in the Metro system.
Comstock had asked the union, during a December congressional hearing, for specifics on accusations that workers were intimidated or forced to falsify inspection reports.
A follow-up letter from the union sent this week provided no such specifics. Comstock said her door was open for any workers who wanted to provide information anonymously.
“We have had accidents that have endangered people and employees, and that needs to change, and everyone needs to be part of that solution,” Comstock said.
She has joined calls from several corners, including from former D.C. Mayor Tony Williams, to blow up the Metro compact, which could eliminate binding arbitration from labor disputes and lead to a smaller Metro Board.
Local Virginia jurisdictions are concerned that they could lose their voices on the board, which they believe are especially important because unlike Maryland, nearly all of Virginia’s contributions come through local governments rather than the state.
