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Letter to Jane Williams, Acting Administrator at the Federal Transit Administration - Representatives Malinowski, Fitzpatrick, Moulton and Bacon Lead Effort to Protect Frontline Transit Workers

Letter

By: Tom O'Halleran, Jared Huffman, Eric Swalwell, Tony Cárdenas, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Alan Lowenthal, John Larson, Jahana Hayes, Kathy Castor, Hank Johnson, Jr., Danny Davis, Mike Bost, Richard Neal, Katherine Clark, Bill Keating, David Trone, Ann Kirkpatrick, John Garamendi, Zoe Lofgren, Grace Napolitano, Mark Takano, Scott Peters, Joe Courtney, Eleanor Norton, Alcee Hastings, Sr., Bobby Rush, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Cheri Bustos, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, Dutch Ruppersberger, Jamie Raskin, Andy Levin, Brenda Lawrence, Emanuel Cleaver II, Annie Kuster, Joshua Gottheimer, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Pete King, Grace Meng, Jerry Nadler, Eliot Engel, John Katko, Marcy Kaptur, Kendra Horn, Brendan Boyle, Conor Lamb, Lizzie Fletcher, Donald McEachin, Gerry Connolly, Derek Kilmer, Mark Pocan, Tom Malinowski, Terri Sewell, Ruben Gallego, Greg Stanton, Jerry McNerney, Barbara Lee, Julia Brownley, Judy Chu, Linda Sánchez, Gil Cisneros, Nanette Barragán, Katie Porter, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes, Darren Soto, Val Demings, Frederica Wilson, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Chuy Garcia, Mike Quigley, Jan Schakowsky, Bill Foster, André Carson, John Yarmuth, Lori Trahan, Joe Kennedy III, Ayanna Pressley, Stephen Lynch, John Sarbanes, Anthony Brown, Chellie Pingree, Dan Kildee, Haley Stevens, Debbie Dingell, Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Alma Adams, Donald Bacon, Jeff Van Drew, Andy Kim, Albio Sires, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Mikie Sherrill, Deb Haaland, Lee Zeldin, Thomas Suozzi, Gregory Meeks, Nydia Velázquez, Yvette Clarke, Adriano Espaillat, José Serrano, Nita Lowey, Anthony Brindisi, Joe Morelle, Joyce Beatty, Marcia Fudge, Tom Cole, Suzanne Bonamici, Brian Fitzpatrick, Dwight Evans, Matt Cartwright, Mike Doyle, Jr., Steve Cohen, Vicente Gonzalez, Henry Cuellar, Abigail Spanberger, Jennifer Wexton, Peter Welch, Rick Larsen, Pramila Jayapal, Denny Heck, Gwen Moore, Elissa Slotkin, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Chris Pappas, Chris Smith, Don Payne, Jr., Dina Titus, Kathleen Rice, Hakeem Jeffries, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sean Maloney, Brian Higgins, Tim Ryan, Earl Blumenauer, Madeleine Dean, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Don Beyer, Jr., Suzan DelBene, Adam Smith, David McKinley
Date: April 15, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Transportation Health and Health Care

Dear Acting Administrator Williams:

As you know, Congress appropriated $25 billion in emergency funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to ensure Americans--including frontline healthcare workers, law enforcement, first responders, and other safety personnel--do not lose access to reliable transit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure frontline transit workers have access to personal protective equipment (PPE). We appreciate the work of you and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) staff in adhering to the very tight timeline we provided to get this immediate financial relief to transit agencies across the nation. We also appreciate the FTA's recently updated guidance regarding PPE and safety protections for transit workers. We believe that these recommendations should be improved upon by making them mandatory during this crisis and by taking several more actions to bring FTA's guidance fully in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In the brief time since Congress passed this historic funding, we have already seen the tragic death of frontline transit workers as a result of the novel coronavirus. Bus drivers, stations agents, cleaners, and other frontline transit workers are contracting the virus at a rate much higher than the general public. Nationally, at least 60 transit workers have died as a result of COVID-19.

The guidance FTA has issued so far recognizes the importance of PPE and social distancing measures in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. We believe FTA should further update its guidance to the logical next step by working with transit agencies to mandate that:

Buses, trains, streetcars, and worker facilities, including crew rooms, are regularly disinfected.
Agencies are requiring a safe distance between riders and transit operators.
Safety precautions are taken to protect transit workers from touching the same digital screen, keyboard, or fingerprint-scanning device, e.g. for timekeeping purposes.
Brave front line workers are afforded death benefits.
Thank you for your timely attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,


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