Mass Transit To Lose Federal Funding?

Mary Brill sends along this link to a piece in the February 15 issue of the APA Advocate:

The president's fiscal 2008 budget proposal requests $9.42 billion for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), down $430 million (4.4 percent) from the $9.85 billion provided by Congress in fiscal 2006. The proposed funding is $309 million less than the level authorized by SAFETEA-LU. The proposed funding represents an 18 percent cut from anticipated levels. Most of that cut would come from the New Starts program, which would drop from $1.7 billion to $1.4 billion. The Small Starts program, authorized in SAFETEA-LU, is included in the transit budget at $100 million, however that funding is part of the larger New Starts program. Small Starts was created to expedite development of smaller transit projects, such as streetcars. The cut in transit funding from SAFETEA-LU targets already has sparked bipartisan criticism from leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.