; and (C) develop strategic partnerships that create greater self-help capacity that leads to greater long term and robust investments in public transportation, mobility, inclusive economic development, and affordable transit-oriented development. (2) Performance benchmarks and maintenance of effort (A) Performance benchmarks To be eligible for a grant under this section, the grantee shall include in its application an explanation of how the grant funds will demonstrably increase transit capacity and ridership and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, vehicle miles traveled, and congestion. (B) Maintenance of effort (i) In general and possible reduction In addition to the eligibility requirements of subparagraph (A), a grantee also needs to include in its application a certification to maintain the same funding level as the aggregate expenditures at or above the average level of expenditures in the 2 fiscal years prior to the date of enactment of this section. If a State or local government that receives a grant under this section reduces its combined fiscal effort for value capture initiatives and programs or the aggregate expenditures within the State or local government to support value capture, public transportation, or affordable transit-oriented development programs for any fiscal year that a State or local government receives a grant authorized under this section relative to the previous fiscal year, the Secretary, except as provided in clause (ii), shall reduce support for such State or local government under this section by the same amount as the decline in State or local effort for such fiscal year. (ii) Waiver The Secretary may waive the requirements of this subparagraph if— (I) the Secretary determines that a waiver would be appropriate due to a precipitous decline in the financial resources of a State or local government as a result of unforeseen economic hardship or a natural disaster that has necessitated across-the-board reductions in State or local services, including value capture, public