The Washington Post reported (April 13) that U.S. Senators have proposed legislation that stipulates it would approve 10 more years of critical federal funding for Metro, but only if the transit agency agreed to not buy its next generation of rail cars from China.  The China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. is pushing back against its critics and has hired lobbyists in Washington. A CRRC spokesman said the United States should encourage rather than stifle free competition and dismissed concerns about subway car spying as “ludicrous.” CRRC is actively pursuing a Metro contract likely to exceed $1 billion to build up to 800 of its new 8000-series rail cars. The company has won four major U.S. rail car contracts in recent years, with low bids that critics complain are possible because of government subsidies.