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Congressman Cohen Announces Transit Funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Press Release

Date: Feb. 7, 2022
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Issues: Infrastructure

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today announced that the first round of new federal transit funding under the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), that only he and Congressman Jim Cooper (TN-05) voted for from the entire Tennessee Congressional delegation, is heading to Memphis and Tennessee to strengthen public transportation systems, support transit jobs across the region and make urgently needed investments, including for new bus acquisitions, facility upgrades and other projects.

The partial-year funding through the first 4.5 months of Fiscal Year 2022 will provide $4,228,467 for the tri-state urban area including for Arkansas and Mississippi; $890,398 for Memphis to keep its transit system in a "state of good repair" and $3,437,118 to the state of Tennessee for buses and bus facilities.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"I was proud to vote for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and am pleased to see these investments in our Memphis and regional transit systems such as the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). This historic level of funding will help upgrade our transit programs and keep transit workers on the job."

Transit systems have suffered from decades of underinvestment, causing disruptions and increasing travel times for passengers. The IIJA, signed by President Biden in November 2021, represents the largest-ever investment in America's public transit.

The investments announced this week, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration, total nearly $6 billion in funding that will be made available to transit agencies, states and Tribal governments across the country for the first 4.5 months of fiscal year 2022. Additional funding will become available following passage of a full-year appropriations bill, which is currently being negotiated in the House and Senate.


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