Object
Metro Link (Federal Rail Funding)
A non‑physical, spoken referent to federal rail funding—summoned as 'US rail' in staff conversation rather than produced as paperwork. It has no material form: no printed memo, no map, only a phrase that functions like a coin. In Josh's bullpen the term snaps across the table as leverage—brandished by staffers, weighed by senior advisors, and offered as a programmatic payoff to bend a congressman's vote.
2 appearances
Purpose
To serve as an administratively controlled, earmarked federal transit funding item that can be offered, withheld, or dangled to influence a lawmaker's support.
Significance
Operates as political currency—a negotiable bargaining chip and promised project used to secure swing votes and neutralize opposition. Its invocation compresses policy, patronage, and persuasion into a single, transferable promise central to the episode's vote‑strategy stakes.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used