Advocacy Alert: Contact your member of Congress about a bad amendment for biking and walking

The League of American Bicyclists is asking people who support walking, bicycling, and local control of transportation funding dollars to contact their members of Congress this fall to show support for bicycling and walking.

In particular, the "Woodall Amendment" has passed a key vote in the House of Representatives and has a chance of becoming law in the 2018 budget. The Amendment was passed in rushed fashion recently, without sufficient time for floor debate or to contact and educate members of Congress and staff.

But now we have some time to do that.

Below: What the Woodall Amendment is and what can YOU do to help.

What is the Woodall Amendment? Taking money back from cities, but not states . . .

Caron Whitake of the League summarized the amendment and the problems it will cause:

Last week, the House of Representatives voted on a 2018 budget. As part of that debate, the House voted to include the Woodall Amendment which allows state Departments of Transportation to take back the funding allocations Congress appropriated to local governments, and to give back funding meant for small projects like biking and walking infrastructure. . . .

Periodically, Congress rescinds, or cancels, unspent transportation funds from State DOTs.  Rescissions are essentially a bookkeeping measure, which allows the USDOT to take long unspent funds off the books. However, some state DOTs have turned them into an opportunity to gut neglected bicycle and pedestrian funding and those that benefit local governments. . . .

The 2018 budget includes rescissions for transportation dollars. The Woodall Amendment strikes the exemption for sub-allocated funds AND strikes the proportionality clause.

This would allow a state to take all their rescissions from MPO funds, or to completely wipe out funding for transportation alternatives, or CMAQ or something like that.

What can you do?

While the amendment passed the House, it is not law yet. The Senate still needs to pass their version of the budget, and then House and Senate budget leaders will need to find a compromise bill.

What you can do: Contact your members of Congress

Talking points from the League--you can use these to create an email message OR as talking points when you call the office:

• The Woodall Amendment hurts local communities like ours. The Woodall Amendment strips local control, making it impossible for local governments to plan and implement around our local transportation priorities.
• A number of local government associations oppose this, including:
  • National League of Cities
  • National Association of Counties
  • National Association of Development Organizations (which represents rural areas),
  • US Conference of Mayors,
  • Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations,
  • National Association of Regional Councils (smaller metro regions),
  • The Woodall Amendment contradicts the 2015 FAST Act. In the FAST Act, the 2015 transportation bill, Congress specifically gave local governments control over a small amount to transportation funding to help meet local priorities. The Woodall Amendment negates this.
  • The Woodall Amendment is unfair. It allows states to use local funding to pay rescissions.  Wouldn’t we all rather pay our rent or mortgage with someone else’s money?
  • Our community deserves to plan for our own priorities. [Mention local transportation priorities] Without certainty that our region will have transportation dollars, projects like these may not happen. 

Ask

• Please don’t let the Woodall Amendment move forward.  Please talk to Appropriators (budget leaders) and ask them not to include the Woodall Amendment in the final budget bill. 

 

How to reach your Representative:

If you don’t know who your Representative is, click here and type in your zip code.

If you know who your Representative is, go to their website and search for their district office and give them a call or sent a message using their online form!