Transit voice is muted in D.C.

[question everything]

Pasadena Star-News (and other in that family)

Transit voice is muted in D.C.
By Lisa Friedman
Washington Bureau

Friday, August 05, 2005 - Call it congestion without representation.

Despite its more than 3,300 miles of freeway and countless traffic woes, Southern California has only two representatives on the House Transportation Committee, an imbalance that local experts and even one lawmaker said might have hurt the region's effort to bring in more dollars from the new federal highway bill.

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In all, five Californians sit on the 75-member committee, making up about 7 percent of the panel that regulates air, road and rail policy and which every six years sets key funding levels for local highway projects, as it did last week with a $286.4 billion package.

Of the Californians, two are from the Bay Area and one is from San Diego. Reps. Gary Miller, R-Brea, and Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Long Beach, serve the interests of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

By contrast, Californians make up 16 percent of the House Judiciary Committee, which debates everything from presidential impeachment to immigration; 18 percent of the House Resources Committee that legislates federal land and water policy; and 24 percent of the International Relations Committee overseeing foreign policy pronouncements.

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Lisa Friedman can be reached at [phone], or by e-mail at [e-mail] .

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~22097~2998114,00.html#