Lawmakers fire back at Metro funding block

WASHINGTON - The battle over federal funding for Metro is heating up. A day after Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said he is happy to be the roadblock to a bill that would provide Metro with $1.5 billion in federal funding, high-powered lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia are answering back.

"Sen. Coburn is wrong," Maryland Senator Ben Cardin tells WTOP. "To have one senator say that we won't be able to vote on it, is an abuse of that senator's perogative. If this was the only issue (that would be one thing), but it is not. Sen. Coburn has blocked many bills and I just think that it is not right."

Cardin has been championing the idea of federal funding for Metro. The senator recently toured a crumbling platform at the Shady Grove Metro Station that is being held up by wooden beams.

"This money is critically important," says Cardin.

The lead author of the bill which would provide federal funding for the transit agency, Va. Congressman Tom Davis, also responded to Coburn's comments.

Davis says if it comes down to it, Coburn's position could be changed by an overwhelming majority.

"One senator can get rolled, but we prefer to do this amicably," Davis tells WTOP.

Coburn's position on the lack of federal funding for Metro is that the rest of the country should not have to pay for the transportation system in the D.C. region.

"How dare us say we are going to steal opportunity from our children so that we can have a ride on the Metro. I think the vast majority of Americans would disagree with that," Coburn told WTOP.

Davis responded to that statement.

"This is the nation's capital with people coming in from all over the country. People are coming to see the Pope, they come to see inaugurations. This shouldn't fall on the taxpayers of Washington, D.C., and Virginia and Maryland. That's why you have a national capital. There is some federal responsibility in this and it has been diminishing over the years."

Both Cardin and Davis agree that the federal workforce is a heavy user of Metro, and that by itself warrants federal funding.

Both lawmakers also agree that it is time to get the discussion moving on federal funding for Metro.

Davis is confident the Metro funding bill will make its way through Congress this year.

But Coburn said he will not move from his position. He believes wasteful spending has to be cut both in Congress and within Metro. Coburn even suggested some changes need to be made with Metro's management.

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