New York’s top Republican officials agree: Congress should send the Metropolitan Transportation Authority another $3.9 billion — for the good of the city, the region and the nation.
They didn’t say so, but we can: It matters for the GOP, too.
A functioning MTA is vital to the city’s future, and the city remains a key to the nation’s economy. But the pandemic devastated the agency’s revenues even as it imposed new costs; it can’t possibly get back in the black this year.
For these reasons and more, Reps. Peter King, Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin and other elected Republicans from across the state, including the GOP leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, wrote US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week, urging him to back new federal funding.
A certain Queens boy knows the need, too: In support of the last round of federal aid to the MTA, President Trump tweeted that the money was “critical to keeping essential personnel moving and aiding” New York City’s recovery. A second round is as critical.
Cynics suggest that Washington Republicans don’t need to care about a heavily Democratic city and state, especially as they can blame Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio — and their bickering — for New York’s problems.
Sorry: GOP figures come here to fund-raise all the time — and several swing House seats in this state are vital to the party’s hopes of ever taking back the House.
Most important, though: It’s the right thing to do.
Gotham is a key engine of the national economy, and so a key to getting America growing again. Let the city’s mass-transit agency rot, and the whole nation will suffer.