Photo by {ryan}

As part of his most recent budget, President Obama has cut federal funds for Metro by 10 percent—and local leaders are not happy, reports WTOP.

The federal government committed in 2010 to giving Metro $150 million per year in exchange for the transit agency’s matching the federal funds and adding two new positions for federal appointees on the Metro Board of Directors.

The president’s most recent budget includes a 10-percent reduction in those funds.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray says the president needs to live up to his word since about half the people who ride Metro are federal employees.

When the cuts were first announced in February, Post columnist Robert McCartney worried that they would slow the many repairs and improvements Metro is undertaking to improve service. He did make an interesting point, though—Obama may have made the cuts to prevent Republicans from offering even larger ones. Early last year, the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative GOP legislators, outright said that the full $150 million annual payment should be slashed.

Unless the money is restored, there seems to be one logical solution—throw one of the two federal appointees off the Metro board. Their appointment was part of the deal that got the transit system the $150 million to begin with, so anything less should mean less representation, right?