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Washington, D.C. —Congress should immediately enact legislation that will prevent a reduction in mass transit benefits for federal employees and permanently establish parity between the parking and mass transit portions of the transportation benefit, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said today in letters to members of the House and Senate.

“The mass transit commuter benefit provides much needed relief in the form of reduced commuting costs for many working people, including tens of thousands of federal employees that rely on public transportation to get to and from work,” Kelley wrote. “Many of these employees, already subject to a two-year pay freeze, are struggling in the current economic climate, and a reduction in these benefits would impose a severe financial burden on them.”

Without the passage of legislation—H.R. 2412 and S. 1034, the Commuter Benefits Equity Act—the current monthly mass transit benefit of $230, which equals the current parking tax benefit, would revert to $120 per month on Jan. 1. Last December, as part of the “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010,” Congress passed language that retained the mass transit commuter benefit levels, ensuring it would be equal to the current parking tax benefit.

“Retaining the current monthly commuter transit subsidy also encourages greater transit ridership, which helps lessen congestion on roadways, reduces pollution and conserves energy,” Kelley wrote. “In addition, workers using environmentally helpful mass transit should not be provided a lesser benefit than those driving and parking personal vehicles.”

NTEU is the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.