The following statement is from Councilmember Charles Allen regarding the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA):

“This is the budget WMATA and General Manager Clarke have been warning us about, and now we see it on paper. The clock is ticking, and there needs to be a solution soon – we can’t be the city we need to be with these service cuts, and we can’t run our city’s transit system with this level of uncertainty. However, today’s proposal is a worst-case scenario in which DC, Maryland, and Virginia do nothing else between now and April, when the WMATA board votes on next year’s budget. Regional leaders have been in conversations for some time, and I’m confident we all agree that this budget can never become reality. That level of service would fail workers, seniors, students, businesses, and residents. For the last several months, I've been working closely and collaboratively with the Mayor, Council Chair, DC's WMATA Board members, and our Chief Financial Officer to work on possible solutions. And as Chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee, I will ensure that the Council passes a budget that fully funds the District’s share for WMATA. We’ve got to get this done over the next few months to immediately address next year’s budget, as well as over the next several years to solve the underlying structural problems. But failure is not an option."

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