Make Transportation Authorities Accountable and Transparent Act

The audit scope spans five fiscal years ending before enactment, which—if enacted early in 2025—would cover FY2020 through FY2024. That window captures the full life cycle of pandemic relief flowing to transit agencies, from the initial infusion to later tranches intended to stabilize operations, prevent layoffs, maintain essential service for front-line and low-income riders, and sustain capital programs. It also captures routine Federal Transit Administration (FTA) formula and discretionary grants under Chapter 53, allowing the IG to present a comprehensive picture of federal support and spending choices during a period of historic disruption.

Importantly, the bill’s audit mandate is descriptive rather than evaluative. It requires the OIG to tally funds received and explain how they were spent, but it does not require a judgment on cost-effectiveness, service outcomes, equity impacts, or ridership recovery. Nor does it prescribe corrective actions, impose penalties, or authorize clawbacks. However, if the IG uncovers potential misuse or noncompliance with federal grant rules, existing law already allows the FTA or other agencies to pursue recovery or enforcement actions. The audit could thus serve as a springboard for additional oversight or legislative conditions tied to future funding.

The choice to limit the audit to the five largest systems concentrates oversight where the bulk of federal dollars and riders are, thereby reducing the administrative burden on smaller agencies and focusing the OIG’s limited resources. At the same time, this choice will leave out many mid-sized and smaller systems that also received significant COVID-era aid, potentially missing issues elsewhere. The 180-day deadline aims to deliver timely findings that can inform the current appropriations cycle, but given the size and complexity of major agencies’ finances, it may compress the OIG’s ability to conduct deeper, evaluative work beyond the bill’s minimal requirements.

Practically, the DOT OIG will coordinate closely with the FTA and the targeted agencies to gather grant award data, drawdowns, and expenditure categories. Expect detailed breakdowns by statute (e.g., CARES vs. CRRSA vs. ARP vs. Chapter 53), program (formula vs. discretionary), and broad use (operations, payroll, safety and cleaning, capital maintenance, debt service where allowed, etc.). Congress can use the resulting report to assess whether pandemic relief and standard grants were used as intended, to gauge the magnitude of ongoing structural operating deficits at large systems, and to shape policy discussions around future federal support, performance conditions, or governance reforms for major metropolitan transit networks.