Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA / Wikimedia Commons
The MTA is urging Congress to keep advance appropriations in the next surface transportation funding extension ahead of a December 11 deadline, warning that an extension without them would cut the agency’s Fiscal Year 2027 formula funding by $265 million, more than 10%.
In a policy brief updated Thursday, Nov. 5, the agency said the short-term extension of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in September left out the “advance appropriations” added under the Biden-era law to boost infrastructure investment. Congress is expected to pass another extension of uncertain length before current funding expires on December 11. The cut would take effect only if that extension again excludes the advance appropriations.
The MTA says it carries 43% of the transit trips in the United States but receives 17% of the federal funding available to transit agencies. Work on a new five-year reauthorization bill is expected to begin after the new Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2027.
The agency is also seeking a tariff exemption for rolling stock that complies with Buy America requirements. The MTA plans to purchase $23 billion of new subway cars, buses and commuter rail cars, its biggest fleet overhaul since the 1980s, and estimates that high and unpredictable tariff rates will add about $1 billion in direct tariff costs to its bus and train replacement programs. The figures are the agency’s own estimates.
In September, Governor Kathy Hochul asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for an exemption from tariffs imposed since January 2025 for all Buy America-compliant rolling stock projects. The MTA says there has been no response and no action to date.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
