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Cargas Will Solve the Worst Traffic in Texas, A Massive Problem Created by Culberson

 

 

HOUSTON (Sept. 1, 2016) – Congressional District 7 includes the Galleria which has the worst traffic in Texas, and the Katy Freeway, one of Texas’ largest parking lots during rush hours. It’s no coincidence that the District also lacks any light rail or meaningful mass transit. This is the deliberate obstructionist work of John Culberson and his decade-plus crusade to block and waste METRO’s federal funding.

Culberson’s many maneuvers to block federal funding for public mass transit are well known and well documented. He has inserted language in federal appropriations bills to deny METRO millions in funding for rail, and then claims METRO cannot afford to expand its widely successful system. Rather than begin construction of the University Line to the Galleria, he forced METRO to waste $104 million in tax dollars undertaking worthless studies and audits. He claims to represent the wishes of local Texans, but then uses federal authority to override the mass transit plans of local officials.

While Culberson supports rail in other Congressional Districts, he denies alternative transportation options to the people who need it most – the people he is supposed to represent in Washington.

To be clear, expanding light rail does not force anyone to park their car or truck; it just means that anyone who wants to take rail can – leaving the highways more open for everyone else who wants to drive.

But, it gets worse.

Every Texan pays federal taxes of 18.4¢ per gallon of gasoline, and 24.4¢ per gallon of diesel. Of these funds, 2.86¢ per gallon are dedicated to the Mass Transit Account to be used solely for mass transit like light rail. It is the Mass Transit Account funds that Culberson blocks from going to METRO.

THIS IS OUR MONEY!

These funds are our tax dollars that are supposed to come back to Houston to fund our mass transit projects. The blocked funds do not go towards deficit reduction. Instead, these funds are being sent to Dallas and other cities to fund their projects.

Because of John Culberson, Texans only receive 89¢ for every dollar we pay into the Federal Highway Trust Fund from the gasoline tax.

James Cargas will make expansion of light rail to the Galleria and our two airports his top priority in Congress. He will work hard to reverse over a decade of neglect and obstructionism to bring relief to the traffic nightmare suffered every day by people living, working and passing through West Houston.

The federal money is there; it’s our tax money, and it should be spent relieving the worst traffic congestion in Texas.

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