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Rosenberg: MBTA Meltdown Result Of Tough Winter, Neglect

BOSTON (CBS) - Senate President Stan Rosenberg says the MBTA meltdown is the result of, "a tough winter and a lot of neglect."

Record-setting snow and extreme cold have completely shut down the MBTA on some days and severely limited service on others.

In his first public comments on the MBTA meltdown, Sen. Rosenberg chastised taxpayers for wanting more service than they're willing to pay for, but he declined to defend T management's priorities.

WBZ-TV's Jon Keller says the MBTA's finance plan, which is loaded with billions of dollars for expansion, only budgets $2.83 million for snow removal over the next four years.

Read: MBTA GM Beverly Scott Resigning

"Deferred maintenance is a constant problem in government," Sen. Rosenberg says. "Because you don't get credit for doing deferred maintenance, you get credit by opening new buildings, new stations and showing expansion and progress."

Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday that the state will work to try and get public transportation back to normal faster than the 30-day timeframe recently outlined by the MBTA.

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