LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa testifies before Congress for transportation money

Kitty Felde/KPCC

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returned to Washington today to lobby for a federal advance on transit funding. It’s the fourth time he’s come to D.C. to get that money.

Mayor Villaraigosa wants to build L.A.’s “subway to the sea” and other transit projects in 10 years. The problem is that it’ll take 30 years for the voter-approved sales tax to pay for it.

The mayor told the House Ways and Means Committee that it’s in the federal government’s best interest to invest the money now – whether that’s via an infrastructure bank, loan guarantees, or grants. "Those are all opportunities for us," he said, "but at this point, no one program fits what we’re trying to do here."

And that’s a problem when the transportation bill’s stalled and Congress is already facing a huge budget deficit.

The congressional panel was interested in how L.A. County sold its transportation sales tax to voters. The mayor said a combination of factors helped convince voters – identifying specific projects, promising fiscal oversight, and voters’ firsthand experience with L.A.’s terrible traffic.