There are still two weeks left until the final vote on Metro’s operating hours, but a committee vote Thursday pushed back against a proposed return to previous late night service. In a 3-1 vote, the Metro board’s safety committee moved to keep current operating hours.

District officials have mounted a campaign to return to late night hours: midnight on weekdays and 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Currently, Metrorail closes at 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

If the board decides to go back to late night hours, it could have major funding implications not just for Metro, but also for public transit agencies across the entire region. That’s because the Federal Transit Administration said any changes to the hours could result in a “staring down the barrel of a calamity,” according to an email from the FTA, read by a Metro board member.

Metro and FTA officials say that increasing late night service and taking away maintenance hours poses a safety risk. If Metro moves forward, it could set off a cascade of issues, and the FTA has threatened to withhold $1.6 billion of transit funding from D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Metro’s full board will vote on the current operating hours on Feb. 28.

Metro Board Chair and D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) could throw a wrench in that plan by using what’s called a “jurisdictional veto.” At least one member of two from each jurisdiction—Maryland, Virginia and D.C.—has to agree on a plan for it to be approved. With a D.C. veto, it wouldn’t be possible for the plan to move forward.

District Stands Alone On Late Night Hours

Evans has said the two D.C. members would use the veto on the operating hours discussion. Mayor Muriel Bowser has been vocal on the issue, saying Metro needs to be viable for all workers, not just the 9-5 crowd. The District even started a petition to bring back late night hours.

Evans says the maintenance hours for track work can be found elsewhere, like the middle of the workday.

General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said Metro could do that, but it would affect far more people. One Metro board member said the system could gain 600,000 rides with extra hours at night, but lose 11 million rides a year with daytime track work.

Evans said he’s unsure if there’s any compromise that can be reached in two weeks.

“At the moment, it’s all or nothing,” Evans said of D.C.’s demands. “As chairman of the board, I have dual responsibility here (to both Metro and the District). So I’m going to see if there is a middle ground here.”

Evans says he does not support a proposal to subsidize Uber or Lyft rides for late night workers because, “if I’m a woman working in a bar and cleaning up and leaving at 2 or 3:30 in the morning…  I don’t want to get into a car with a guy that I don’t know.”

“That may be an unreasonable concern, but concerns nonetheless,” he said. “People are used to getting on the train and getting home and that’s what we’re trying to get back to.”

Christian Dorsey, a board member from Arlington, said late night hours are popular when presented without context.

“Service at the expense of safety is a lot less popular,” Dorsey said. “When we can, we want to deliver as much service as possible.”

Part of the reason Evans is pushing so hard is because he’s concerned that if he approves reduced hours again this year, late night hours may never come back.

“Metro will always come back and want the hours [for maintenance],” Evans said.

How Do Late Hours Threaten Regional Funding?

If Metro’s board votes to extend hours back to previous late night service, the FTA would re-open what’s known as “corrective action plans (CAPs).” Metro is required to prove that it’s doing the work FTA has requested to get the federal funds.

And if the FTA re-opens the CAPs, it could slow down the handoff of safety oversight from the FTA to the new Metrorail Safety Commission this April.

If the handoff isn’t done by April 15, then the FTA could withhold funding from places as close as Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland to as far away as Roanoke and Norfolk in Virginia. Even Maryland’s Purple Line light rail could have funding withheld.

Evans said he is furious about the federal government’s demands.

“Nothing makes me crazier than someone threatening us,” Evans said. “To put a gun to our head… and say that unless we do what they want, they’ll defund capital projects for Metro. We don’t want to do that.”

This story originally appeared on WAMU.