Today’s Headlines
Oberstar is throwing his weight behind a three-month extension of transport law, but the Senate has its own 18-month plan ready, with a $20 billion price tag (CQ) Senate approves $122 billion transportation-housing spending bill, with $10.4 billion for transit (AP) California is banking on winning nearly half the Obama administration’s high-speed rail money (Reuters) … Continued
September 18, 2009
Pro-Gun Group: Senator Shows ‘Bigotry’ by Opposing Firearms on Amtrak
Thirty Democratic senators voted against yesterday's successful GOP bid to allow guns and ammunition in checked baggage on Amtrak -- but only one of the 30 is on the receiving end of a strongly worded attack today by gun-rights advocates.
September 17, 2009
Oberstar to Back 3-Month Delay in Transport Bill As Soon As Next Week
House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is readying a proposal to extend current infrastructure law by three months -- 15 months less than the delay preferred by the White House -- and could introduce the legislation as soon as next week, his office said today.
September 17, 2009
Pro-Tea Party Republican’s Angry Letter to D.C. Metro: Read it in Full
Apparently unfamiliar with the concept of irony, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) has drafted an angry letter to the chief of Washington D.C.'s Metro, complaining that protesters at last weekend's 9/12 "tea party" had difficulty traveling by transit -- the very transit system that Brady voted against aiding, and the epitome of government spending that the tea partiers claim to oppose.
September 17, 2009
Warner Scores a (Small) Win for White House’s Transportation Agenda
While it pushes for an 18-month delay in the next federal infrastructure bill, the Obama administration has proposed a data collection effort that would help states and localities begin tracking ridership and usage of transit, roads, buses, and the like -- a small put pivotal step towards enacting national performance standards for transportation.
September 17, 2009
Today’s Headlines
After years of arguing that transit demand is too low to matter, conservatives protest D.C. transit’s failure to accommodate high demand from conservatives (WSJ) More on the Senate’s vote to let Amtrak passengers travel with guns (CNN, AP) LaHood still reassuring auto dealers they’ll get “cash for clunkers” money (Bloomberg) Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) gets … Continued
September 17, 2009
Conservatives: If We Can’t Kill Off the U.S. DOT, Let’s ‘Fix’ It!
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, an early conservative cheerleader for the Bush tax cuts, coined an instantly classic phrase in 2001: "My goal is to cut government in half in 25 years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
September 16, 2009
Klobuchar & Webb: Dems’ Unlikely Opponents of Bike-Ped Investment
Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) attempt to curb federal investment in bicycle and pedestrian paths, as well as other "transportation enhancements," was defeated on the Senate floor today -- but it managed to pick up two unlikely Democratic supporters in the process.
September 16, 2009
New Investigation Finds 2,100 Transport Lobbyists Working the System
Interest groups seeking to influence transportation policy-making have long flooded the capital with campaign cash and lobbyists -- and their numbers are rising at an eye-popping rate. Nearly 1,800 interests are employing at least 2,100 transportation lobbyists to work the system in anticipation of the next federal infrastructure bill, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation unveiled today.
September 16, 2009
Today’s Headlines
No. 2-ranked Senate Democrat admits there’s no plan yet for extending federal transport law (JOC) More coverage of Monday’s transportation bill press conference … with extra umbrage at the idea that it’s no longer called the “highway” bill (Logistics Management) Atlanta’s MARTA transit network is freeing itself from tax-shelter traps triggered by the financial crisis … Continued
September 16, 2009