Transport and the Tea Party: How Conservatives Talk About the Gas Tax
The passage of health care legislation this week, while elating Democrats, has proven an equally potent motivator for conservatives advocates of states' rights. Appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News show last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was asked about the viability of the legal challenge to the health bill filed by 14 mostly conservative attorneys general.
March 25, 2010
Today’s Headlines
More coverage of the new index measuring transportation’s impact on local housing costs (WaPo, Wash Biz Jrnl, Post-Gazette) Look who came to the table for a meeting on “tripartisan” climate legislation: Voinovich (Roll Call) Dallas open to running transit to next year’s Super Bowl, but first it will need the U.S. DOT to relax its … Continued
March 25, 2010
Home Builders Net More Than $2.6B From Tax Break in Stimulus Law
The home-building industry scored a big win last year when Congress voted to double the tax credit for new home buyers and extend the break until next month. But that's not the only legislative move that's leaving smiles on home builders' faces.
March 24, 2010
EPA Drops Data Before GOP Forces Shutdown of Transportation Hearing
The Senate environment panel today was forced to prematurely shutter its latest hearing on the next long-term federal transportation bill after Republicans invoked a rarely-used right to close down committee work as part of their broader protest against the majority party's health care legislation.
March 24, 2010
Feds Begin Redefining ‘Affordable Housing’ to Include Transport Costs
The process of expanding the federal government's definition of "affordable housing," a stated goal of the Obama administration's sustainable communities effort, began in earnest yesterday with the introduction of a new index that integrates transportation prices into the cost of living for hundreds of metro areas.
March 24, 2010
Today’s Headlines
House transport committee aides start acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: Despite Senate Dems’ vow to Voinovich, a new long-term federal bill could be delayed until 2011 (Bond Buyer) Gauging the prospects, both political and practical, for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s transit-oriented development legislation (Next American City) House takes up proposal to expand infrastructure-centric Build … Continued
March 24, 2010
Bids For Federal Streetcar Aid Top Available Money by Nearly Tenfold
After announcing $130 million in new streetcar grants in December, the Obama administration received more than $1.1 billion in applications, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff told lawmakers today -- offering more evidence of the growing local enthusiasm for competitive transportation funding that began with the stimulus law's TIGER grant program.
March 23, 2010
Transit Operating Aid Bill Doesn’t Fly With Major D.C. Transit Group
A burgeoning congressional push to let urban transit agencies tap federal funds for operating their systems is not sitting well with the transit industry's largest D.C. lobbying group, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
March 23, 2010
Today’s Headlines
22 senators, several from industrial states, call for a vote this year on climate legislation (Wash. Indy) LaHood issues a call for proposals on how to fund the nation’s long-term transport needs (DOT Blog) Total U.S. vehicle miles traveled fell in January, economic recovery aside (Calculated Risk via @ryanavent) D.C. heeding Blumenauer’s call for downtown … Continued
March 23, 2010
House GOP Yanks Transportation Earmark Requests — For How Long?
When House Republicans voted recently to renounce all earmarks for this year, the move appeared to one-up Democrats' pledge to forgo earmarks to for-profit entities in 2010 -- a vow that would not extend to transportation projects.
March 22, 2010